FLEXIBLE LINE ELEMENT

• US 20010040375A1
• Filed: 05/28/1999
• Published: 11/15/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IWKA Balg- und Kompensatoren-Technologie GmbH (Ring International Holding AG)
• Original Assignee: IWKA Balg- und Kompensatoren-Technologie GmbH (Ring International Holding AG)
• Inventors: ASCHOFF, WOLFGANG, SALZER, GEORG
• Granted Patent: US 6,315,332 B1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 285/227
• CPC Class Codes: F01N 13/1816 the pipe sections being joined together by flexible tubular elements only, e.g. using bellows or strip-wound pipes
• CPC Class Codes: F16L 27/11 the sleeve having the form of a bellows with multiple corrugations

Abstract

A flexible line element, particularly for exhaust pipes of internal combustion engines of motor vehicles, is characterized in that it has at least two interconnected, metal bellows provided with cylindrical joining ends and at least one of the bellows is helically corrugated. This and/or the bellows are telescoped and two bellows are connected at only one of their joining ends. A line element constructed in this way is on the one hand torsion-soft, so that it does not transfer any torsional stresses to adjacent components, and on the other is also stable in the case of high torsional stresses.

Claims

1. Flexible line element, particularly for exhaust pipes of internal combustion engines for motor vehicles, wherein at least two interconnected metal bellows provided with cylindrical joining ends are present and at least one of the bellows is a helically corrugated bellows:

3. Line element according to

claim 1

or

2

comprising exactly two bellows.

4. Line element according to

claim 1

, wherein the bellows (1, 1a or 1, 2) are successively arranged.

5. Line element accorrding to

claim 1

or

2

, wherein at least one bellows (1) is helically corrugated and at least one other bellows is annularly corrugated.

6. Line element according to

claim 1

or

2

, wherein at least two bellows (1, 1a) are helically corrugated and have a thread with an opposing pitch.

7. Line element according to

claim 1

, wherein the bellows are telescoped and two bellows are connected at only one of their joining ends.

8. Flexible line element according to

claim 1

or

2

, wherein one joining end of a first bellows is firmly connected to one joining end of the other bellows and the other joining end of the first bellows is firmly connected to one end of a substantially rigid pipe element, the other end of the pipe element serving as one cylindrical joining end of the line element and the other joining end of the outer bellows serving as the other cylindrical joining end of the line element.

9. Line element according to

claim 7

, wherein a joining end (3a) of the inner bellows arranged internally of the line element is firmly connected to one end of the pipe element, whilst the other end of the pipe element arranged internally of the inner bellows serves as a cylindrical joining end of the line element.

11. Line element according to

claim 1

, wherein that at least two bellows have the same thread height h.

13. Line element according to

claim 11

, wherein the internal diameter of the outer bellows is smaller than the external diameter of the inner bellows.

14. Line element according to

claim 1

or

2

, characterized in that the one or more helically corrugated bellows have a multithread construction.

2. Flexible line element, particularly for exhaust pipes of internal combustion engines for motor vehicles, wherein at least two interconnected metal bellows provided with cylindrical joining ends are present and wherein the bellows are telescoped and wherein two bellows are connected at only one of their joining ends.

10. Line element according to

claim 2

or

7

, characterized in that at least two bellows are helically corrugated and have a thread with a pitch in the same direction.

12. Line element according to

claim 2

or

7

, wherein that the internal diameter of an outer bellows is larger than the external diameter of an inner bellows.