CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY

• US 20170146159A1
• Filed: 04/23/2015
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Henn GmbH & Co KG.
• Original Assignee: Henn GmbH & Co KG.
• Inventors: HARTMANN, Harald
• Granted Patent: US 10,550,967 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B21D 39/046 Connecting tubes to tube-like fittings
• CPC Class Codes: F16L 13/147 by radially expanding the inner part F16L13/168 and E21B43/103 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16L 37/0885 with access to the split elastic ring from a radial or tangential opening in the coupling

Abstract

The invention relates to a connector assembly (1) comprising a pipe (3), a sealing element (5), and a plug connector (4) which comprises a connector body (6). The connector body (6) has an annular chamber (22) which is located between a first exterior section (12) and a second exterior section (15) of the plug connector (4). A connecting section (34) of the pipe (3) is inserted into the annular chamber (22) of the connector body (6) from the pipe receiving side (25) and is connected thereto. The connecting section (34) of the pipe (3) includes a fastening recess (43) and a seal receptacle (44) which are incorporated in a circumferential surface (42) of the pipe (3), said seal receptacle being structurally separated from the fastening recess (43). The first (12) or the second exterior section (15) is deformed in the region of the seal receptacle (44) in such a way that the sealing element (5) is pressed between the first (12) or second exterior section (15) and the seal receptacle (44). The invention further relates to a method for producing the connector assembly (1).

Claims

1. A connector assembly (1), in particular for use in a road vehicle, comprising a pipe (3), a sealing element (5) and a plug connector (4), which comprises a connector body (6), which connector body (6) has an annular chamber (22) which lies between a sleeve-like, first casing section (12) of the plug connector (4) annularly surrounding a central longitudinal axis (9) in cross-section and a sleeve-like second casing section (15) of the plug connector (4) annularly surrounding the central longitudinal axis (9) in cross-section, wherein the first casing section (12) is surrounded by the second casing section (15), and the first casing section (12) of the connector body (6) is connected to the second casing section (15) at a first end section (16) by a first end wall section (17), and the casing sections (12, 15) are open to one another at a second end section (24), whereby a pipe receiving side (25) of the connector body (6) is formed, wherein a connecting section (34) of the pipe (3) is inserted from the pipe receiving side (25) into the annular chamber (22) of the connector body (6) and connected to the latter, wherein the connecting section (34) of the pipe (3) comprises a fixing recess (43) formed on a circumferential surface (42) of the pipe (3) and a seal retainer (44) which is structurally separate from the latter, wherein in an assembled state of the connector assembly (1) a form-fitting connection is produced between the first (12) or second casing section (15) of the connector body (6) and fixing recess (43) of the pipe (3) and wherein the first (12) or the second casing section (15) is deformed in the region of the seal retainer (44) such that the sealing element (5) is pressed between the first (12) or second casing section (15) and seal retainer (44).

2. The connector assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein both the fixing recess (43) and the seal retainer (44) are inserted into an inner casing surface (49) of the pipe (3), wherein the fixing recess (43) and the seal retainer (44) are spaced apart from one another axially.

3. The connector assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first casing section (12) of the connector body (6) extends in the assembled state of the connector assembly (1) as viewed in axial direction (51) over the fixing recess (43) and also over the seal retainer (44) of the pipe (3), so that both the pressing in the region of the fixing recess (43) and the pressing in the region of the of the sealing element (5) are performed by a deformation of the first casing section (12).

4. The connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein the fixing recess (43) is formed in the pipe (3) as a groove (55), which is semi-circular in cross-section, formed in the inner casing surface (49) of the pipe (3).

5. The connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein the seal retainer (44) of the pipe (3) is designed as a stepped edge (56) formed on the inner casing surface (49), in which the sealing element (5) is mounted.

6. The connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein the distance (53) of the seal retainer (44) from an end face wall (52) of the pipe (3) is smaller than the distance (54) of the fixing recess (43) from the end face wall (52).

7. The connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein the pipe (3) has an edge (58) in its connecting section (34) which corresponds with an end face wall (32) of the first casing section (12), so that the axial position (59) of the pipe (3) can be defined relative to the plug connector (4) in the assembled state, in particular during the assembly.

8. The connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein the sealing element (5) has a cylindrical inner casing surface (36) and a cylindrical outer casing surface (37), wherein in the installed state of the sealing element (5) the cylindrical inner casing surface (36) bears on the first casing section (12) of the connector body (6) and the cylindrical outer casing surface (37) bears on the inner casing surface (45) of the seal retainer (44) of the pipe (3).

9. The connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein the pipe (3) has at least one axially extending recess (66) on its connecting section (34) on the end face wall (52), which recess corresponds with a positioning tab (67) in the connector body (6).

10. The connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein the connector body (6) is designed as a one-piece molded part, such as a deep-drawn part, made in particular from stainless steel sheet.

11. The connector assembly according to claim 1, wherein the pipe (3) is made from plastic, such as polyamide by means of an injection molding method.

12. A vehicle (7), in particular a road-bound vehicle (7), with a connector assembly (1) arranged on the suction side or pressure side of a turbo-charger (8), wherein the connector assembly (1) is designed according to claim 1.

13. A method for connecting a connecting section (34) of a pipe (3) for liquid or gaseous media with a plug connector (4), wherein the connecting section (34) of the pipe (3) comprises a securing recess (43) formed on a circumferential surface (42) of the pipe (3) and a seal retainer (44) structurally separated from the latter, and wherein the plug connector (4) comprises a connector body (6), which connector body (6) comprises an annular chamber (22), which is between a sleeve-like, first casing section (12) of the plug connector (4) annularly surrounding a central longitudinal axis (9) in cross-section and a sleeve-like second casing section (15) of the plug connector (4) annularly surrounding the central longitudinal axis (9) in cross-section, wherein the first casing section (12) is surrounded by the second casing section (15) and the first casing section (12) of the connector body (6) is connected to the second casing section (15) at a first end section (16) by a first end wall section (17), and the casing sections (12, 15) at a second end section (24) are open to one another, whereby a pipe receiving side (25) of the connector body (6) is formed, in particular the plug connector (4) and the pipe (3) are designed according to claim 1, wherein

in a first method step a sealing element (5) is inserted into the annular chamber (22) of the plug connector (4) between a first (12) and second casing section (15), in particular fitting on the first casing section (12);

in a second method step the connecting section (34) of the pipe (3) is pushed from the pipe receiving side (25) of the connector body (6) into the annular chamber (22) of the plug connector (4) and positioned;

in a third method step a pressing tool (73) deforms the first casing section (12) of the connector body (6), wherein a first portion (76) of the pressing tool (73) deforms the first casing section (12) so that a form-fitting connection is formed between the pipe (3) and plug connector (4), and a second portion (77) of the pressing tool (73) deforms an axially spaced apart part of the first casing section (12) so that the sealing element (5) is compressed by the first casing section (12) and is thus clamped between the first casing section (12) and pipe (3).

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein during the shaping process the movement path (75) of the pressing tool (73) is monitored, wherein prior to the deformation and/or during the deformation of the first casing section (12) by means of at least one distance measuring device (78) the surface (79) of the pipe (3) facing the window opening (69) is detected through a window opening (69) in the second casing section (15) and the first casing section (12) is deformed as a function of the result of the detection of the surface (79) of the pipe (3) performed by the distance measuring device (78).

15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein during the shaping process the force applied by the pressing tool (73) on the first casing section (12) is measured and actively defined.

16. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein before the second method step the correct positioning of the sealing element (5) in the plug connector (4) is checked by the measuring device (78).