JPH0676109U - Pipe fitting cap - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] A pipe that allows a joint part fitted with a cap to be smoothly inserted into a grommet and that can secure a predetermined clamping force even if the cap itself expands or contracts due to temperature changes. PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cap for a joint [Configuration] A cap body 20 for covering a joint portion 16 of a pipe joint 14, and a skirt portion 2 for covering a hexagonal portion 17 of the pipe joint 14 and an insulator 15 following the pipe joint 14.
1 and the outer peripheral surface of the cap body 20 gradually expands toward the skirt portion 21. Further, the holding ribs 25 are formed on the inner surface of the cap body 20, and the holding ribs 25 are pressed against the outer circumferential surface of the joint portion 16 to elastically deform the circumferential surface of the cap body 20 so that expansion and contraction of the cap itself due to temperature changes. Absorb.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a cap attached to a joint portion of an entrance / exit pipe such as an evaporator mounted in a vehicle air conditioner.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 Through the floor board that separates the passenger compartment from the engine room, the joint of the inlet / outlet pipe of the evaporator may be pulled out from the passenger compartment side to the engine room side. In order to prevent dust and water from entering, the joint is covered with a rubber or vinyl chloride cap, and the grommet provided on the floor board is inserted in this state.

Conventionally, as a cap for closing a pipe joint of this type, there is a cap disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 63-121 894, which will be described with reference to FIG. Has an outer cylinder D that covers the screw forming surface C of the inner cylinder E, and an inner cylinder E that is folded back from the outer cylinder D and fits inside the opening of the pipe joint B. One end of the inner cylinder E is closed to open the opening. It was configured to seal.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, it is also considered that the cap A is configured only by the outer cylinder D whose one end is closed, and the cap A covers the thread forming surface C of the pipe joint B. Has been.

[0005]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 However, each of the caps described above is configured to cover only the thread forming surface C of the pipe joint B, so that the grommet may be caught in the hexagonal portion F of the pipe joint B or the pipe joint B when inserted into the grommet. If the insulator G is provided on the front side, the insulator G may get caught in the grommet when it is inserted into the grommet. There was a risk of doing it.

Further, in the conventional cap, the cap itself expands and contracts due to changes in the outside temperature, and the holding force of the cap that holds the joint portion changes, making it difficult to pull out from the pipe joint, or conversely loosening it. Airtightness is impaired.

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 temperature change. It is an object to provide a cap for pipe joints that can be made.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above object, the gist of the first invention is to provide a cap body that covers the joint portion of the pipe joint provided at the tip of the pipe and a base portion of the joint portion of the pipe joint. And a skirt portion covering the insulator provided on the outer periphery of the pipe following the pipe joint, and the cap body has a taper whose outer peripheral surface gradually expands toward the skirt portion. It is formed into a shape. The gist of the second invention is that a cap body for covering a joint portion of a pipe joint provided at a tip of a pipe, a hexagonal portion provided at a base portion of the joint portion of the joint, and the joint A skirt portion covering the insulator provided on the outer circumference of the pipe, the cap body is formed of a flexible member, and a nipping rib for press-contacting the outer peripheral surface of the joint portion is formed on the inner surface of the cap body. It has been formed.

[0009]

[Action]

 Therefore, according to the first aspect, since the hexagonal portion of the pipe joint and the insulator are covered with the skirt portion of the cap, even when the joint portion is inserted into the grommet, the grommet has the hexagonal portion of the pipe joint and the insulator. Since the outer peripheral surface of the cap body is tapered so as to gradually widen toward the skirt portion, the cap itself is not likely to be caught by the grommet.

Further, according to the second invention, since the sandwiching 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 cap is formed. The holding rib portion of the main body expands to some extent along the outer peripheral surface of the joint, and the outer peripheral portion of the cap main body that does not form the rib is elastically deformed to narrow inward. Therefore, even if the cap itself expands or contracts due to temperature fluctuations, the expansion and contraction can be absorbed by the elastic deformation of the cap main body, and therefore the above-mentioned problems can be achieved.

[0011]

【Example】

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

In FIG. 1, for example, a cooling unit 1 for an automobile air conditioner arranged on the passenger compartment side is formed by arranging an evaporator (not shown) in a storage case 2, and inlet / outlet pipes 3 and 4 of the evaporator are provided. , Is pulled out from the side wall of the storage case 2. These inlet / outlet pipes 3 and 4 are drawn out to the engine room side through a grommet 8 attached to a floor board 7 that divides the engine room 5 and the vehicle compartment 6, and serve as a refrigerant pipe such as a compressor in the engine room. It is supposed to be connected.

The grommet 8 is made of synthetic rubber or the like and is engaged with the peripheral edge of the hole 9 of the floor board 7. The grommet 8 has a large diameter refrigerant outlet side pipe 3 leading to the evaporator and a small diameter refrigerant inlet side. Through-holes 10 and 11 for inserting the pipe 4 are provided, and the inlet / outlet pipes 3 and 4 are inserted through the through-holes 10 and 11 together with the caps 12 and 13 covering the tips thereof. .

Since both of the inlet / outlet pipes 3 and 4 have substantially the same configuration, one of the inlet / outlet pipes 3 will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 2, a pipe joint 14 is provided at the tip of the inlet / outlet pipe 3, and heat exchange on the inlet / outlet pipe surface is reduced in a portion of the inlet / outlet pipe 3 before the pipe joint 14. Insulator 15 is provided for this purpose. The pipe joint 14 includes a joint portion 16 having an external thread formed on the outer peripheral surface and a hexagonal portion 17 formed at the base of the joint portion 16. The joint portion 16 is a flange portion formed at the tip of the pipe. The hexagonal portion 17 is positioned and fixed to 18 and is formed in the shape of a hexagonal nut that bulges radially from the joint portion 16. Moreover, the insulator 15 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, and its surface is slippery. As shown in FIGS. It has a cap body 20 that covers the joint portion 16 of the pipe 14, and a skirt portion 21 that covers 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 end portion thereof in the axial direction of the cap, and a handle 23 for gradually increasing the diameter is formed at the tip end of the rod 22. In the 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.

A taper portion 24 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the cap body 20 so as to gradually expand toward the skirt portion 21. The diameter (L1) of the tip of the tapered portion 24 is smaller than the diameter (L2) of the through hole 10 formed in the grommet 8 so that the cap 12 can be easily inserted into the through hole 10. Has become.

On the inner peripheral surface of the cap body 20, four holding ribs 25 that bulge inward are formed at equal intervals. The four holding ribs 25 have contact surfaces 25a extending parallel to the axial direction of the cap 12, and symmetrically face the axial center of the cap 12 with a space smaller than the outer diameter of the joint. 2 sets of clamping means are formed. Further, the bottom portion 26 of the cap 12 is formed with an annular convex portion 27 which is fitted into the tip opening portion of the inlet / outlet pipe 3.

On the other hand, in the skirt portion 21, slits 28 cut out from the opening end to the middle are formed at four peripheral positions at equal intervals, and the vicinity of the opening end gradually expands to the outside. It is formed to warp. The return portion 29 formed so as to bend back is wider than any outer diameter of the joint portion 16, the hexagonal portion 17 of the inlet / outlet pipe 3, and the insulator 15, and the cap 12 is inserted into the tip of the inlet / outlet pipe 3. At this time, the open end of the skirt portion 21 is prevented from being caught by the hexagonal portion 17 or the like.

Considering the case where the entrance / exit pipe 3 is pulled out from the passenger compartment side to the engine compartment side through the grommet 8 of the floor board 7 in the above-mentioned configuration, first, the cap 12 is covered on the tip of the entrance / exit pipe 3. Apply and push in. Then, since the open end of the skirt portion 21 is greatly expanded, the cap 12 is smoothly fitted onto the joint portion 16, the hexagonal portion 17, and the outer peripheral surface of the insulator 15 (FIG. 5). In the process, the joint portion 16 of the inlet / outlet 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 and is elastically deformed into a flat shape (FIG. 6), and the cap 12 is firmly fixed to the contact portion 16 by the elastic force due to the deformation. Further, when the cap 12 is pushed all the way, the tip of the joint portion 16 comes into contact with the bottom portion 26 of the cap 12, and the annular convex portion 27 is inserted into the front end opening portion of the inlet / outlet pipe 3 so that the end of the inlet / outlet pipe 3 is airtight. 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, so that the cap 12 is inserted. Initially, it is inserted into the through hole 10 of the grommet 8 without any resistance. As it is inserted, the middle of the taper portion 24 contacts the peripheral edge of the through hole of the grommet 8, but the taper portion itself is formed in a taper shape gradually expanding toward the skirt portion 21. When the force is applied to the cap 12, the cap 12 is smoothly inserted into the through hole 10 while expanding the grommet 8, and the grommet 8 reaches the skirt portion 21 of the cap 12. The skirt portion 21 expands so as to warp at the opening end, but since the 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 so that the inlet / outlet pipe 3 is not pulled out. If moved, the skirt portion 21 slides on the inner surface of the through hole of the grommet 8 and quickly comes off.

In the engine room, when connecting a refrigerant pipe (not shown) to the pipe joint 14 of the inlet / outlet pipe 3, the handle 23 is held by hand and the cap 12 is pulled out, and the joint portion 16 of the pipe joint 14 is connected. The pipe joint of the refrigerant pipe may be screwed into the.

[0024]

[Effect of device]

 As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the cap body is provided with the skirt portion covering the hexagonal portion of the pipe joint and the insulator following the pipe joint, and the outer peripheral surface of the cap body is moved toward the skirt portion. Since it is designed to spread gradually, if the pipe fitting with this cap is inserted into the grommet, the pipe fitting can be smoothly inserted into the grommet.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the cap rib is provided on the inner surface of the cap body, and the outer peripheral portion of the cap body where the grip rib is not formed is elastically deformed to join the cap to the pipe joint. Even if the cap itself expands or contracts due to fluctuations in outside air temperature, the expansion and contraction can be absorbed and a predetermined clamping force can be secured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing a utilization 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 a pipe joint cap according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a view of the pipe joint cap according to the present invention seen from the opening end.

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

6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a cross-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 Inlet / outlet pipe 12,13 Cap 14 Pipe joint 15 Insulator 16 Joint part 17 Hexagonal part 20 Cap body 21 Skirt part 24 Tapered part 25 Clamping rib

Claims (2)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A cap body for covering a joint portion of a pipe joint provided at a tip of a pipe, a hexagonal portion provided at a base portion of the joint portion of the pipe joint, and the pipe joint, and subsequently applied to an outer periphery of the pipe. And a skirt portion that covers the insulator, and the cap body is formed in a tapered shape with its outer peripheral surface gradually expanding toward the skirt portion. 2. A cap main body that covers a joint portion of a pipe joint provided at a tip of a pipe, a hexagonal portion provided at a base portion of the joint portion of the pipe joint, and the pipe joint, and thereafter is applied to an outer periphery of the pipe. And a skirt portion that covers the insulator, the cap body is formed of a flexible member, and a nipping rib that presses against the outer peripheral surface of the joint portion is formed on the inner surface of the cap body. For cap.