JP2010032004A - Connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a connector 1 capable of maintaining high sealability, without rusting a seal surface Pb of a pipe P abutting on a first seal member 17. <P>SOLUTION: This connector 1 connects the pipe P by inserting the pipe P into its connection hole. The connector 1 has the first seal member 17 and a second seal member 20 in the connection hole 16 of a connector body 10. The second seal member 20 is integrally installed with a stopper ring 18. The second seal member 20 is formed of a material having a bending elastic modulus smaller than the first seal member 17, and seals a clearance reaching the seal surface from an external part by pressing the seal surface of the pipe P by a seal rib 20c. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a connector for connecting a metal pipe to another pipe body.

  Conventionally, a connector described in, for example, Patent Document 1 is known as this type of connector. The connector of patent document 1 is what is called a cook connector used for the cooling piping of a vehicle, and it is attached to a connector main body with a connector main body which has a connection hole which can insert metal piping, and prevents piping. And a retainer for connecting the pipe to the connector body. In addition, a sealing member made of an O-ring is accommodated in the connection hole of the connector body by being stopped by a stopper ring, and the sealing member seals against the sealing surface of the pipe, and fluid in the pipe leaks. Is preventing. Furthermore, a cylindrical waterproof cap is attached to the outer peripheral portion of the connector. The waterproof cap is a cylindrical member for preventing rust caused by moisture from the outside on the sealing surface of the pipe and for preventing intrusion of muddy water or the like.

  However, since the waterproof cap is formed in conformity with the outer shape of the connector, it is poor in versatility. Further, in order to attach the waterproof cap to the outer peripheral portion of the connector, the waterproof cap has to be expanded while being elastically deformed, and there is a problem that the operation of attaching the waterproof cap to the connector is troublesome.

JP 2002-71074 A

  The present invention is based on solving the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and does not increase the number of parts, has a simple configuration and excellent versatility, and does not rust the sealing surface of the pipe that hits the sealing member, and has high sealing performance. An object is to provide a connector that can be maintained.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is to solve at least a part of the problems described above, and the invention can be implemented as the following forms or application examples.

[Application Example 1]
Application Example 1 is a connector for connecting a metal pipe to another pipe body.
A connector body having a connection hole for inserting the pipe;
A first seal member that is disposed in the connection hole and seals the pipe passage and the outside by pressing the seal surface of the pipe;
A stopper ring disposed in the connection hole for holding the first seal member on the connector body;
A second seal member assembled to the stopper ring;
With
The second seal member is formed of an elastic material having a lower bending elastic modulus than the stopper ring, and includes a seal rib that seals a gap from the outside to the seal surface by pressing the seal surface of the pipe.
It is characterized by.

  In Application Example 1, the first seal member is disposed in the connection hole of the connector main body, and the first seal member is pressed and assembled with a stopper ring integrally assembled with the second seal member. In this state, when the pipe is inserted into the connection hole of the connector body, the first seal member seals against the seal surface of the pipe, and the pipe passage is sealed and connected to the connector. In such a connection state, the seal rib of the second seal member hits the seal surface of the pipe and seals the gap from the outside to the seal surface. Thereby, the sealing surface of piping is prevented from being rusted by moisture from the outside.

That is, the second seal member is integrally assembled with a stopper ring that holds the first seal member on the connector main body, and effectively exhibits a rust prevention function for the seal surface. Therefore, it is not necessary to use a boot as described in the prior art in order to provide a rust prevention function, and the number of parts does not increase.
Further, the seal rib of the second seal member is a tongue piece, which is easily bent when the pipe is inserted and has a small coefficient of friction, so that the insertion load of the pipe is not increased and the connection workability is excellent. Further, since the seal rib elastically deforms following the pipe, there are few restrictions on the shape of the pipe.

  As an application example of the present invention, the stopper ring may be formed of a resin material, and the second seal member may be formed of a thermoplastic elastomer that is welded to the stopper ring. With this configuration, the second seal member can be integrated by welding by injecting the thermoplastic elastomer onto the stopper ring after injection molding of the resin material 18a. It can be simplified.

(1) Schematic Configuration of Connector 1 FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a connector 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state where a pipe P is connected to the connector 1. The connector 1 is used for a cooling system such as an inverter of a vehicle on which a fuel cell is mounted, and is used for connecting the pipe P to the tube Tb. The connector body 10, a first seal member 17 including an O-ring, A stopper ring 18 and a retainer 30 are provided. In FIG. 1, the first seal member 17 and the stopper ring 18 are shown partially broken. The pipe P is made of metal (for example, aluminum) and is formed in a substantially round pipe shape. On the outer peripheral surface at a position spaced a predetermined distance from the front end surface of the pipe P, a flange portion Pa composed of an annularly protruding bulge portion is formed. In addition, a seal surface Pb that is sealed by the first seal member 17 is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the pipe P from the flange portion Pa to the front end side. Hereinafter, the connector main body 10 and the retainer 30 will be described in order.

(2) Configuration of each part of connector 1 (2) -1 Connector body 10
3 is an exploded cross-sectional view of the connector 1, and FIG. 4 is a half cross-sectional view of the connector 1 to which a pipe P is connected. 3 and 4, the connector main body 10 is made of, for example, a resin and is formed in a substantially cylindrical shape. One end of the connector main body 10 is a pipe connecting portion 11 for connecting the pipe P, and the other end is a tube connecting portion 12 to which a tube Tb (FIG. 1) made of, for example, a synthetic resin is attached by press fitting. ing. Hereinafter, the following description will be given with the pipe connection portion 11 side of the connector 1 as the front side and the tube connection portion 12 side as the rear side.

  The hollow portion in the connector main body 10 is formed in first to fourth connection holes 13 to 16 each having a stepped hole shape in which the inner diameter is gradually increased from the rear toward the front. A first seal member 17 is disposed in the third connection hole 15. In the connector main body 10, a resin-made stopper ring 18 and a second seal member 20 that are assembled integrally with the stopper ring 18 are disposed across the third connection hole 15 and the fourth connection hole 16.

  FIG. 5 is a perspective view in which the stopper ring 18 and the second seal member 20 are partially broken. The stopper ring 18 is a member that mainly prevents the first seal member 17 from being removed, and includes an annular stopper main body 18a, and an engagement protrusion 18b that is positioned from the outer periphery of the stopper main body 18a to the recess of the pipe connecting portion 11. And a fitting portion 18c for assembling to the second seal member 20, and are integrally formed of resin. The second seal member 20 includes an annular seal base 20a, a fitted portion 20b that is formed at a side end of the seal base 20a, and fits into the fitting portion 18c of the stopper ring 18, and an inner periphery of the seal base 20a. And a seal rib 20c protruding from the portion. The second seal member 20 has a lower bending elastic modulus than the stopper ring 18 and is made of rubber or elastomer, and seals the gap from the outside to the seal surface by pressing the seal surface of the pipe P.

  1 and 2, first and second restriction flanges 21 and 22 are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the pipe connection portion 11 of the connector body 10 in parallel from the front side to the rear side at a predetermined interval. ing. Between the first restriction flange 21 and the second restriction flange 22, a pair of left and right insertion holes 26 are formed symmetrically.

(2) -2 Retainer 30
The retainer 30 is made of an elastically deformable resin, and includes a retainer main body 31 formed in a U shape surrounding a part of the outer peripheral portion of the pipe connection portion 11. The retainer body 31 includes a pair of left and right retaining pieces 33, a detection piece 34, and a guide piece 37 that protrude downward from both sides of a flat plate-like substrate portion 32.

(3) Connection Work of Connector 1 In FIGS. 3 and 4, the first seal member 17 is inserted into the third connection hole 15 in the assembly work of the connector 1. At this time, the first seal member 17 is positioned at the stepped portion with the second connection hole 14. Subsequently, the second seal member 20 integral with the stopper ring 18 and the second seal member 20 is inserted into the fourth connection hole 16, thereby preventing the first seal member 17 from falling off the pipe connection portion 11.

  In order to connect the pipe P to the connector 1 configured as described above, the retainer 30 is temporarily assembled to the connector body 10, and then the pipe P is inserted into the through holes of the first seal member 17 and the second seal member 20. Further, the retainer 30 is pushed in. That is, in FIG. 1, the retaining piece 33 of the retainer 30 is aligned with the insertion hole 26 between the first and second restricting flanges 21 and 22, and the pipe connecting portion 11 is connected to both the detecting pieces 34. In a state where the outer peripheral surface is sandwiched, the retainer 30 is pushed downward. As a result, the retainer 30 moves in the mounting direction while restricting the inclination of the retainer 30 while the retaining piece 33 is inserted into the insertion hole 26 and the guide piece 37 is inserted into the guide restricting portion 23, so that the temporarily assembled state is obtained.

Subsequently, in order to connect the pipe P to the connector 1, the pipe connecting portion 11 of the connector main body 10 is pushed into the pipe P as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. When the pipe P is inserted into the normal connection position of the connector body 10, the flange portion Pa of the pipe P is elastically deformed in the direction in which the detection protrusion 35 of the detection piece 34 in the retainer 30 is expanded, and the detection protrusion 35 of the detection piece 34. Is shifted laterally from the engaging claw 29 of the receiving hole 28. As a result, the lower surface of the detection projection 35 is disengaged from the engagement claw 29 of the receiving hole 28, so that the retainer 30 can be moved downward. Subsequently, when the substrate portion 32 of the retainer 30 is pushed downward, the retainer 30 moves downward. Then, the detection projection 35 of the detection piece 34 descends while sliding along the side surface 11a of the connector main body 10 and finally reaches the lower end of the connector main body 10 so that the detection piece 34 is elastically restored. Then, when the detection protrusion 35 is engaged with the lower end of the connector body 10, the upward movement of the retainer 30 is restricted. When the retainer 30 is moved to the retaining position, the retaining piece 33 engages with the pipe P on the opposite side of the flange portion Pa, that is, on the front side. As a result, the pipe P is restricted from moving in the removal direction, and is prevented from being removed from the connector body 10 and connected to the connector 1.
At this time, one outer peripheral portion of the second seal member 20 is compressed by being pushed by the opening wall surface of the connector body 10.

(4) Action and Effect of Connector 1 (4) -1 As shown in FIG. 5, when the pipe P is completely inserted into the normal connection position of the connector main body 10, the pipe P connects the second seal member 20. The stopper ring 18 and the second seal member 20 that are assembled together are sequentially penetrated, and the first seal member 17 presses against the seal surface Pb of the pipe P, thereby ensuring high sealing performance at the connection location of the connector 1. Has been.

(4) -2 With the pipe P connected to the connector 1, the seal rib 20c of the second seal member 20 hits the seal surface Pb of the pipe P and seals the gap Gp from the outside to the seal surface Pb. Thereby, the sealing surface of piping is prevented from being rusted by moisture from the outside. That is, the second seal member 20 effectively exhibits a rust prevention function for the seal surface Pb in addition to the function of being integrally assembled with the stopper ring 18 and being held by the connector body 10.

(4) -3 The seal rib 20c of the second seal member 20 is a tongue piece, which is easily bent when the pipe P is inserted and has a small friction coefficient, so that the insertion load of the pipe P is not increased, and the connection workability is increased. Is excellent. Further, since the seal rib 20c elastically deforms following the pipe P, there are few restrictions on the shape of the pipe P.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be implemented in various modes without departing from the scope of the invention.

It is a perspective view which decomposes | disassembles and shows the connector concerning one Example of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the state which connected piping to the connector. It is sectional drawing which decomposed | disassembled the connector. It is a half section showing a connector which connected piping. It is the perspective view which fractured partially the stopper ring and the 2nd seal member.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Connector 10 ... Connector main body 11 ... Pipe connection part 11a ... Side surface 12 ... Tube connection part 13 ... 1st connection hole 14 ... 2nd connection hole 15 ... 3rd connection hole 16 ... 4th connection hole 17 ... 1st seal member 18 ... Stopper ring 18a ... Stopper body 18b ... Engagement protrusion 18c ... Fitting part 20 ... 2nd seal member 20a ... Seal base 20b ... Fit part 20c ... Seal ribs 21, 22 ... First and second Restricting flange 23 ... Guide restricting portion 24 ... engaging end 26 ... insertion hole 28 ... receiving hole 29 ... engaging claw 30 ... retainer 31 ... retainer main body 32 ... substrate portion 33 ... prevention piece 34 ... detection piece 35 ... detection protrusion 37 ... Guide piece P ... Piping Pa ... Flange part Pb ... Seal surface Tb ... Tube

Claims (2)

In a connector for connecting a metal pipe (P) to another pipe body,
A connector body (10) having a connection hole for inserting the pipe (P);
A first seal member (17) that is disposed in the connection hole and seals the passage and the outside of the pipe (P) by pressing the seal surface (Pb) of the pipe (P);
A stopper ring (18) disposed in the connection hole for holding the first seal member (17) in the connector body (10);
A second seal member (20) assembled to the stopper ring (18);
With
The second seal member (20) is formed of an elastic material having a smaller bending elastic modulus than the stopper ring (18), and presses the seal surface of the pipe (P) to reach the seal surface (Pb) from the outside. A seal rib (20c) for sealing
Features a connector. The connector according to claim 1,
The stopper ring (18) is formed of a resin material, and the second seal member (20) is a connector formed of a thermoplastic elastomer welded to the stopper ring (18).

Images