Exhaust pipe joint assembly

• US 6,419,280 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2001
• Issued: 07/16/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company), Sankei Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company), Sankei Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Suzuki, Hidenori, Takizawa, Kazutoshi, Naitou, Takahiko, Koinuma, Kazunori, Akiyama, Hidekazu, Uegane, Masayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Browne, Lynne H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hewitt, James M
• Application Number:
  US09/754,336
• Publication Number:
  US 20010008341A1
• Time in Patent Office: 557 Days
• Field of Search: 285/49, 285/299, 285/300, 285/301
• US Class Current: 285/300
• 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 27/1004 introduced in exhaust pipes for hot gases
• CPC Class Codes: F16L 27/11 the sleeve having the form of a bellows with multiple corrugations

Abstract

An exhaust pipe assembly provided with a bellows pipe for connecting an upstream exhaust pipe and a downstream exhaust pipe is disposed so as to form a double pipe construction with a first joint pipe which is connected to the upstream exhaust pipe and a second joint pipe which is connected to the downstream exhaust pipe. A pair of ball receiving portions are disposed on a peripheral surface of the first joint pipe at a distance from each other in a circumferential direction, and a pair of ball receiving portions are disposed on a peripheral surface of the second joint pipe at a distance from each other in a circumferential direction. The ball receiving portions are disposed at an angular phase difference with each other in the circumferential direction. There is provided a coupling piece which has a pair of first ball joint portions engaged with the pair of ball receiving portions of the first joint pipe through a ball, and a pair of second ball joint portions engaged with the pair of ball receiving portions of the second joint pipe respectively through a ball.

Claims

1. An exhaust pipe joint assembly which is interposed in an exhaust-gas system of an engine and which has a bellows pipe for connecting an upstream exhaust pipe and a downstream exhaust pipe, comprising:

a first joint pipe connected to said upstream exhaust pipe and a second joint pipe connected to said downstream exhaust pipe, both said joint pipes being disposed so as to form a double pipe construction with said bellows pipe;

a first pair of ball receiving portions disposed on a peripheral surface of said first joint pipe at a distance from each other in a circumferential direction and a second pair of ball receiving portions disposed on a peripheral surface of said second joint pipe at a distance from each other in the circumferential direction, said first pair of ball receiving portions and said second pair of ball receiving portions being disposed at an angular phase difference with each other in the circumferential direction; and

a coupling piece having;

a pair of first ball joint portions engaged with said first pair of ball receiving portions of said first joint pipe respectively through a ball; and

a pair of second ball joint portions engaged with said second pair of ball receiving portions of said second joint pipe respectively through a ball.

2. The exhaust pipe joint assembly according to claim 1, wherein said angular phase difference is 90°

.

3. The exhaust pipe joint assembly according to claim 1, wherein said first ball joint portions and said second ball joint portions are disposed at a distance from each other in a longitudinal direction of said joint pipes.

4. The exhaust pipe joint assembly according to claim 2, wherein said first ball joint portions and said second ball joint portions are disposed at a distance from each other in a longitudinal direction of said joint pipes.

5. The exhaust pipe joint assembly according to claim 1, wherein both said joint pipes and said coupling piece are disposed inside said bellows pipe.