JP7353128B2 - Annular sealing material - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an annular sealing material.

Patent Document 1 discloses a flexible pipe joint. A flexible pipe is connected to this flexible pipe joint. An annular sealing material is attached to the groove at the tip of this flexible tube. This flexible pipe joint includes a sleeve, a joint body, and a press ring. The sleeve is divided into two parts in the axial direction. This allows the sleeve to be attached to the outer periphery of the flexible tube. The outer peripheral surface of the sleeve is a tapered outer surface. A locking surface that comes into contact with the rear end surface of the sleeve and a female thread are formed on the inner circumferential surface of the press ring. The joint body has a male thread and a tapered pipe male thread. One end of the male thread is screwed into the female thread of the press ring. Tapered male threads for pipes are used to join appliances such as faucets or other fittings. The joint body is provided with a tube mounting portion. The tube mounting portion has an inner circumferential surface that is slightly smaller in diameter than the outer diameter of the O-ring.

In the flexible pipe joint disclosed in Patent Document 1, the inlet side of the pipe attachment portion has a tapered inner surface. This tapered inner surface makes it easier for the O-ring attached to the outer circumferential groove at the end of the tube to enter. Furthermore, when the sleeve is pressed against the main body by the press ring, the tapered inner surface generates an appropriate surface pressure on the outer surface of the flexible tube. Further, since the annular sealing material attached to the tube is compressed toward the smaller diameter side of the tapered inner surface, the space between the tube and the tube attachment portion is sealed.

Utility Model Publication No. 6-37686

The annular sealing material disclosed in Patent Document 1 has a problem in that there is room for improvement in the sealing performance and durability of the O-ring against the flexible pipe. The present invention has been made to solve this problem.

An object of the present invention is to provide an annular sealing material that improves sealing performance and durability for flexible pipes.

The annular sealing material of the present invention will be explained based on the drawings. Note that the reference numerals in the figures are used in this column to aid understanding of the content of the invention, and are not intended to limit the content to the illustrated range.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to a certain aspect of the present invention, the annular sealing material 10 includes an annular outer circumferential portion 30 and an annular inner circumferential portion 32. The outer peripheral portion 30 is a portion between the inside 22 of the opening 20 and a predetermined flexible tube 14 for contacting the inside 22 of the opening 20 . The opening 20 is formed by a predetermined opening forming member 12. The flexible tube 14 is inserted into the opening 20 of the opening forming member 12. The flexible tube 14 has a convex curved surface section 26 and a concave curved surface section 28 that are repeatedly connected. The inner peripheral portion 32 is a portion for contacting the flexible tube 14 between the inside 22 of the opening 20 and the flexible tube 14. The outer peripheral portion 30 has an annular wide portion 50 . The annular wide portion 50 is the widest and annular portion of the annular sealing material 10 . The inner circumferential portion 32 has an annular tapered portion 70 and an annular inner circumferential end portion 72 . The width of the tapered portion 70 becomes narrower as the position moves away from the outer peripheral portion 30. The inner peripheral end portion 72 is continuous with the tip of the tapered portion 70 . Tapered portion 70 has a pair of inner circumferential surfaces 90,90. The slope of the inner circumferential surface 90 at any location other than the location closest to the outer circumferential portion 30 is greater than or equal to the inclination of the adjacent location on the outer circumferential portion 30 side.

The width of the tapered portion 70 becomes narrower as the position moves away from the outer peripheral portion 30. Tapered portion 70 has a pair of inner circumferential surfaces 90,90. The slope of the inner circumferential surface 90 at any location other than the location closest to the outer circumferential portion 30 is greater than or equal to the inclination of the adjacent location on the outer circumferential portion 30 side. As a result, the tapered portion 70 has a sharp shape. If the tapered portion 70 is sharp, the portion of the annular sealing material 10 that seals the flexible tube 14 will be a portion of the tapered portion 70 that is close to the annular wide portion 50. In this case, if the inner circumferential end 72 or a portion of the tapered portion 70 that is close to the inner circumferential end 72 comes into contact with the concave curved surface portion 28 of the flexible tube 14, the flexible tube 14 will be sealed at that contact point as well. . If sealing is possible not only at the portion of the tapered portion 70 that is close to the annular wide portion 50 but also at the inner circumferential end portion 72 or the portion of the tapered portion 70 that is close to the inner circumferential end portion 72, the sealing function becomes higher. On the other hand, the intermediate portion 100 of the tapered portion 70 that is far from the annular wide portion 50 and the inner circumferential end 72 has a larger area in the flexible pipe 10 than the portion near the annular wide portion 50 and the inner circumferential end 72 and its vicinity. does not contribute to the seal. When sealing the flexible tube 14, the reaction force that the intermediate portion 100 receives from the flexible tube 14 is small. If the intermediate portion 100 is away from the flexible tube 14, the intermediate portion 100 will not receive a reaction force from the flexible tube 14. If the reaction force is small or not received, for example, even if the annular sealing material 10 expands due to absorption of liquid, the annular sealing material 10 may be damaged by the reaction force received from the flexible tube 14 due to the expansion. becomes lower. The same applies, for example, when thermal expansion of the annular sealing material 10 occurs. Less chance of breakage means improved durability. As a result, seal performance and durability are improved.

Further, the cross-sectional shape of the inner circumferential end portion 72 described above is fan-shaped and projects toward the center of the annular sealing material 10.

When the cross-sectional shape of the inner circumferential end 72 is fan-shaped and protrudes toward the center of the annular sealing material 10, the inner circumferential end 72 comes into contact with the concave curved surface portion 28 of the flexible tube 14 more easily than in the case where the cross-sectional shape is not like that. Become. As a result, sealing performance is improved.

Further, the radius of the cross-sectional shape of the inner circumferential end portion 72 described above is smaller than the radius of curvature of the bottom of the concave curved surface portion 28 of the flexible tube 14 in the direction along the central axis of the flexible tube 14 .

If the radius of the fan-shaped cross-sectional shape of the inner peripheral end portion 72 is smaller than the radius of curvature of the bottom of the concave curved surface portion 28 of the flexible tube 14 in the direction along the central axis of the flexible tube 14, the joint 12 and the flexible tube 14 When the annular sealing material 10 is compressed between them, the inner circumferential end 72 tends to come into close contact with the bottom of the concave curved surface 28 . As a result, sealing performance is improved.

According to the present invention, sealing performance and durability for flexible pipes are improved.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a connection state between a joint, a flexible pipe, and an annular sealing material according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an external view of an annular sealing material according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an annular sealing material according to an embodiment of the present invention is fitted into a flexible tube. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a situation where an annular sealing material according to an embodiment of the present invention seals between a joint and a flexible pipe.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings. In the following description, the same parts are given the same reference numerals. Their names and functions are the same. Therefore, detailed description thereof will not be repeated.

[Configuration of annular sealing material]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a connection state between a joint 12, a flexible pipe 14, and an annular sealing material 10 according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a portion of the annular seal 10, a portion of the joint 12, and a portion of the flexible tube 14 have been removed. FIG. 2 is an external view of the annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment. In FIG. 2, a portion of the annular seal 10 has been removed. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment is fitted into the flexible tube 14. Hereinafter, the annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment will be explained based on FIGS. 1 to 4.

As shown in FIG. 1, the annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment is a member that seals between the joint 12 and the flexible tube 14. This joint 12 is predetermined to be sealed by the annular sealing material 10. Therefore, the annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment is designed on the premise that it will be inserted into this joint 12. This joint 12 forms an opening 20 and an inner circumferential surface 22 that is the inside thereof. Therefore, the joint 12 is an opening forming member according to this embodiment. Flexible tube 14 is inserted into opening 20 of fitting 12 . The flexible tube 14 has a convex curved surface section 26 and a concave curved surface section 28 that are repeatedly connected. The convex curved surface portion 26 is a cylindrical portion formed by a curved surface with a protruding central portion of the outer periphery. The concave curved surface portion 28 is a cylindrical portion formed by a curved surface with a concave central portion of the outer periphery. This flexible tube 14 is also predetermined to be sealed by the annular sealing material 10. Therefore, the annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment is designed on the premise that it will be inserted into the flexible tube 14.

The annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment is made of ethylene propylene diene rubber. As shown in FIG. 2, the annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment includes an annular outer circumferential portion 30 and an annular inner circumferential portion 32. As shown in FIG. In the case of this embodiment, the outer peripheral portion 30 and the inner peripheral portion 32 are integrated. The method of manufacturing the annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment is the same as that of a well-known O-ring. Therefore, the detailed procedure will not be repeated.

The outer peripheral portion 30 is a portion for contacting the joint 12 between the inner peripheral surface 22 of the joint 12 and the flexible tube 14. The outer peripheral portion 30 has an annular wide portion 50 . The annular wide portion 50 means the widest and annular portion of the annular sealing material 10 . The width in this embodiment refers to the distance from one end to the other end in the direction along the central axis of the annular sealing material 10 (the direction in which the dashed line in FIG. 2 extends).

The inner circumferential portion 32 is a portion for contacting the flexible tube 14 between the inner circumferential surface 22 of the joint 12 and the flexible tube 14. In the case of the present embodiment, the inner circumferential portion 32 refers to a portion of the annular sealing material 10 that is disposed on the inner circumferential side (closer to the dashed line in FIG. 2) than the annular wide portion 50.

In the case of this embodiment, the inner circumferential portion 32 has a tapered portion 70 and an inner circumferential end portion 72 . The width of the tapered portion 70 becomes narrower at a position farther from the outer peripheral portion 30. The inner peripheral end portion 72 is continuous with the tip of the tapered portion 70 . In this embodiment, the tapered portion 70 has a pair of inner circumferential surfaces 90, 90.

In the case of this embodiment, the slope of any point 110 on the inner circumferential surface 90, except for the point 114 closest to the outer circumferential portion 30 on the inner circumferential surface 90, is the slope of the point 112 adjacent to that point 110 on the outer circumferential portion 30 side. is greater than or equal to the slope of In the case of this embodiment, the inclination means the inclination with respect to the direction along the central axis of the annular sealing material 10 (the direction in which the dashed line in FIG. 2 extends). More specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, in the case of this embodiment, the slope of any part 110 of the inner peripheral surface 90 is The slope is equal to the slope of a portion 112 adjacent to the portion 110 on the outer peripheral portion 30 side. As a result, in this embodiment, the pair of inner circumferential surfaces 90, 90 becomes a pair of planes.

The cross-sectional shape of the inner peripheral end portion 72 in this embodiment refers to the cross-sectional shape in a plane that extends along the central axis of the annular sealing material 10 (the axis indicated by the dashed line in FIG. 2) and includes the central axis. It is about. In the case of this embodiment, the cross-sectional shape of the inner peripheral end portion 72 is fan-shaped. As shown in FIG. 4, in the case of this embodiment, the radius rs is about the bottom of the concave curved surface portion 28 of the flexible tube 14 in the direction along the central axis of the flexible tube 14 (the direction in which the chain line in FIG. 1 extends). radius of curvature rf.

[How to connect the annular seal material]
The annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment seals between the joint 12 and the flexible pipe 14 in the same manner as a known sealing material. That is, the annular sealing material 10 is first fitted into the concave curved surface portion 28 of the flexible tube 14. The flexible tube 14 with the annular sealing material 10 fitted into the concave curved surface portion 28 is inserted into the opening 20 of the joint 12. Thereby, the annular sealing material 10 is also inserted into the opening 20 of the joint 12 together with the flexible tube 14. With the insertion, the outer circumferential portion 30 of the annular sealing material 10 comes into contact with the inner circumferential surface 22 of the joint 12. This seals between the joint 12 and the flexible tube 14.

[Description of effects of this embodiment]
FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a state in which the annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment seals between the joint 12 and the flexible tube 14. The effects of the annular sealing material 10 according to this embodiment will be explained based on FIGS. 3 to 5. As shown in FIG. 3, the width of the tapered portion 70 becomes narrower as the distance from the outer peripheral portion 30 increases. The inner circumferential surface 90 of the tapered portion 70 is a flat surface. As a result, the tapered portion 70 has a sharper shape than the inner peripheral portion of the O-ring. As is clear from FIG. 5, when the tapered portion 70 is sharp, the portion of the annular sealing material 10 that seals the flexible tube 14 is a portion of the inner circumferential surface 90 of the tapered portion 70 that is close to the annular wide portion 50. Moreover, in the case of this embodiment, the inner circumferential end portion 72 contacts the concave curved surface portion 28 of the flexible tube 14 . As a result, the flexible tube 14 is sealed there as well. If sealing is possible not only at the portion of the tapered portion 70 near the annular wide portion 50 but also at the inner circumferential end portion 72, the sealing function will be enhanced. On the other hand, in the case of the present embodiment, an intermediate portion 100 of the tapered portion 70 that is away from the annular wide portion 50 and the inner peripheral end portion 72 is separated from the flexible tube 14 . Since the intermediate portion 100 is away from the flexible tube 14, the intermediate portion 100 does not receive any reaction force from the flexible tube 14. If the intermediate portion 100 does not receive a reaction force, compared to a case where the intermediate portion 100 receives a large reaction force, for example, even if the annular sealing material 10 expands due to absorption of liquid, the expansion will cause damage to the joint 12 and the flexible pipe 14. The possibility that the annular sealing material 10 will be damaged by the reaction force received from the annular seal member 10 is reduced. The same applies, for example, when thermal expansion of the annular sealing material 10 occurs. Less chance of breakage means improved durability. As a result, seal performance and durability are improved.

Furthermore, in the case of this embodiment, the cross-sectional shape of the inner circumferential end portion 72 is fan-shaped and projects toward the center of the annular sealing material 10 . As a result, as is clear from FIG. 4, the inner circumferential end portion 72 easily comes into contact with the concave curved surface portion 28 of the flexible tube 14. As a result, sealing performance is further improved.

Moreover, in the case of the present embodiment, the radius rs of the fan-shaped cross-sectional shape of the inner peripheral end 72 is smaller than the radius of curvature rf of the bottom of the concave curved surface section 28 of the flexible tube 14 in the direction along the central axis of the flexible tube 14. . Thereby, when the annular sealing material 10 is compressed between the joint 12 and the flexible tube 14, the inner peripheral end portion 72 easily comes into close contact with the bottom of the concave curved surface portion 28. As a result, sealing performance is further improved.

[Modified example]
The embodiment disclosed herein is an example in all respects. The scope of the present invention is not limited based on the embodiments described above. Of course, various design changes may be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, the object to be sealed by the annular sealing material 10 is not limited to one type of joint 12. The annular sealing material 10 according to the present invention may be designed to be able to seal any of two or more types of joints 12. The object to be sealed by the annular sealing material 10 may be a member that forms an opening (aperture forming member) other than the joint 12. Similarly, the object to be sealed by the annular sealing material 10 is not limited to one type of flexible tube 14. The annular sealing material 10 according to the present invention may be designed to be able to seal any of two or more types of flexible tubes 14.

Furthermore, the inner circumferential surface 90 is not limited to a flat surface. For example, the inner peripheral surface 90 may be a concave curved surface.

10...Annular sealing material 12...Joint 14...Flexible tube 20...Opening 22...Inner circumferential surface 26...Convex curved surface part 28...Concave curved surface part 30...Outer circumferential part 32...Inner circumferential part 50...Annular wide part 70...Tapered part 72 …Inner peripheral end 90…Inner peripheral surface 100…Middle portions 110, 112, 114…locations

Claims (1)

A portion for contacting the opening forming member between the inside of the opening of the opening forming member and a prescribed flexible pipe inserted into the opening and having a convex curved surface portion and a concave curved surface portion repeatedly. an annular outer peripheral portion,
An annular sealing material comprising an annular inner peripheral portion that is a portion for contacting the flexible tube between the inside of the opening and the flexible tube,
The outer peripheral portion has an annular wide portion that is the widest and annular portion of the annular sealing material,
The inner peripheral portion is
an annular tapered portion in which the width becomes narrower at a position farther from the outer peripheral portion;
It has an annular inner circumferential end connected to the tip of the tapered part,
The tapered portion has a pair of inner peripheral surfaces in which the slope of any part other than the part closest to the outer peripheral part is greater than or equal to the slope of an adjacent part on the outer peripheral part side,
The inner circumferential end has a fan-like cross-sectional shape protruding toward the center of the annular sealing material;
An annular sealing material characterized in that a radius of the cross-sectional shape of the inner circumferential end portion is smaller than a radius of curvature of the bottom of the concave curved surface portion of the flexible tube in a direction along the central axis of the flexible tube.

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