Pipe joints or couplings – Molded joint – Interlocked
Patent
1998-01-28
2000-01-11
Arola, Dave W.
Pipe joints or couplings
Molded joint
Interlocked
2852943, 285369, 285382, 2853822, F16L 1302
Patent
active
060127430
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a quick-coupling device for a duct for fluid under pressure, in particular for a motor vehicle, and more particularly it relates to a quick-coupling device for a duct in a fuel circuit or in a circuit for fluid under high pressure such as a power-assisted steering circuit, a braking circuit, or an air-conditioning circuit.
A quick-coupling device is already known, e.g. from patent application EP-0 606 028, for a fluid circuit that is under relatively low pressure, such as an engine cooling circuit, for example. That known device essentially comprises a sleeve of plastics material fixed on the end of a flexible duct of rubber or of elastomer via an overmolded gasket of elastically-deformable material such as rubber or an elastomer. That type of coupling provides excellent results for a fluid under relatively low pressure, however it cannot provide satisfactory sealing if it is used in a circuit for fluid under high pressure.
In conventional manner, quick-coupling devices for high-pressure fluid ducts are fitted with a plurality of add-on O-ring gaskets, with the main drawbacks being that they do not always provide good sealing, they require a considerable amount of force to be used on assembly, and they are sensitive to creep phenomena under the effects of the pressure and the temperature of the fluid, to the detriment of sealing.
A particular aim of the present invention is to provide a simple and effective solution to the problem of quick-coupling devices for high pressure fluid circuits.
To this end, the invention provides a quick-coupling device for a duct for fluid under pressure, in particular for a motor vehicle, the device comprising a rigid sleeve having a first end fixed in sealed manner on said duct and having a second end for coupling in sealed manner to a tubular endpiece connected to a circuit for fluid under pressure, the device being characterized in that sealing between the sleeve and the endpiece is provided by a lining of elastically-deformable material, such as rubber or an elastomer, overmolded on the second end of the sleeve, with sealing between the sleeve and the duct being provided by compressing another elastically-deformable material at the first end of the sleeve, the ends of the duct and of the endpiece being engaged and guided one within the other when the sleeve is coupled to the endpiece.
The sealing lining overmolded at the second end of the sleeve offers several major advantages over traditional series of O-rings: sleeve is much larger, thereby considerably improving the quality of sealing; of the pressure and the temperature of the fluid.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the end of the duct is enlarged to receive the end of the endpiece and is engaged with very little or substantially no clearance inside the sleeve by coming into abutment against said sealing lining.
Advantageously, the first end of the sleeve is crimped or swaged on the duct.
In a first embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned duct is rigid, and sealing with the first end of the sleeve is ensured by a layer of elastically-deformable material overmolded on the sleeve before it is mounted on the duct.
In another embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned duct is a flexible hose of elastically-deformable material such as rubber or an elastomer, and its end is threaded over a rigid tube engaged in the above-mentioned sleeve, and provides sealing with the first end of the sleeve.
In a third embodiment of the invention, the above-mentioned duct is rigid, and after the sleeve has been placed on the end of the duct, sealing with the sleeve is ensured by overmolding at least one elastically-deformable material between the first end of the sleeve and the duct.
Advantageously, the sealing material between the first end of the sleeve and the duct, and the sealing material between the second end of the sleeve and the endpiece are different from each other.
It is thus possible to make savings, with one of the sealing materials being highly effective against th
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Exandier Philippe
Godeau Denis
Arola Dave W.
Hutchinson
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