Quick coupling guide structure
By using a quick joint guide structure in the server cabinet, the radial offset correction of male and female joints is performed using the guide sleeve and guide channel, the problems of wear and poor sealing during joint are solved, and more efficient jointing and better sealing effect are achieved.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202421411494.8
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-06-19
- Publication Date
- 2025-02-28
- Estimated Expiration
- 2034-06-19
AI Technical Summary
When using fast connectors in server cabinets in prior art, it is difficult to effectively correct the radial offset of male and female connectors, resulting in excessive wear and poor sealing during jointing.
A quick joint guide structure is adopted, including a guide sleeve, a combined end, a guide end and a guide channel. The guide sleeve is combined with a male joint, and the guide channel and a guide slope are used to achieve radial offset correction of the male and female joints.
It effectively reduces wear and tear of male and female joints during jointing, ensures integrity of sealing, avoids water leakage, and saves the internal space of the server cabinet.
Smart Images
Figure 00000000_0000_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] The utility model relates to a quick joint guide structure, in particular to a quick joint guide structure which can provide offset correction for two non-coaxial joints before butt joint to prevent excessive wear during jointing. Background Art
[0002] Currently, with the improvement of server computing performance, the heat generated by the internal computing units also increases, and multiple servers are installed in a server cabinet at the same time, and the space between each server is very narrow, so it is impossible to set up additional heat dissipation modules to dissipate heat for each server one by one. Therefore, the industry has used water cooling to provide heat dissipation for each server in the server cabinet. Since there are sophisticated electronic parts in the server, various water cooling pipe configurations must avoid water leakage at each connection point to prevent damage to electronic components caused by water leakage. In order to prevent water leakage, most of the server pipes use hard or metal pipes to configure the cooling water pipes, and a male and a female quick connector are correspondingly provided on the server (active side) and the server cabinet (fixed side) for docking, so that the water channels on the active side and the fixed side can be quickly connected or separated. Since the male and female connectors have a small tolerance in the radial direction when they are assembled, in order to facilitate the rapid correction of the radial tolerance of the two quick connectors, at least one guide column is provided next to the position where the female connector is provided on the fixed side (server cabinet), and a guide seat is provided next to the position where the male connector is provided on the active side (server) corresponding to the position of the guide column, and the guide seat has a guide hole. When the male and female connectors are assembled, the guide column is first inserted into the guide hole of the guide seat, and the two quick connectors with radial tolerance are guided by the guide column and the guide seat to guide the two quick connectors to be close to the coaxial center before the two connectors are aligned and connected in series.
[0003] Since the internal space of the server cabinet is quite narrow, guide posts and guide seats must be correspondingly configured at each relative joint position of the male and female connectors to correct the radial offset of the two connectors. The arrangement of the guide posts and guide seats thus occupies a considerable amount of internal space of the server cabinet.
[0004] In addition, in order to save space inside the server cabinet, some businesses want to omit the use of guide pillars and guide seats. Therefore, they especially control the tolerance accuracy of the radial offset of the two mutually docked male and female connectors, and set an inclined surface at the position where the inner hole of the female connector first contacts the male connector when docking. When the inclined surface contacts the male connector, the two guide the male connector and the female connector to correct the slight radial offset by friction, thereby increasing the smoothness of the connection between the two connectors. Although the use of guide pillars and guide seats can be omitted in this way, the following problems will still arise. When the male and female connectors are used directly as parts for offset correction, the front end of the male connector is very important for the sealing between the male and female connectors. If the front end of the male connector is damaged by impact or excessive wear, it will cause insufficient sealing between the various joints inside the female connector and the various sealing elements inside the female connector, making it impossible to close the water valve set between the two, thereby causing poor sealing between the male and female connectors and water leakage.
[0005] In addition, in order to comply with the Open Computer Project (OCP) specification, when two different types of connectors (such as UQD quick connector and UQDB blind plug connector) are used together, the lengths of the male and female connectors of the two specifications are different, so the depth of the male connector inserted into the female connector cannot be controlled after the connection. When the valve bodies inside the two connectors are inserted too deeply into each other, it is easy to cause the internal spring that controls the valve body to open and close the water path to be over-extruded and exceed the yield stress, causing permanent deformation. When the male and female connectors are separated, the spring loses its elasticity and cannot return to its original state, and the valve body cannot be returned to its original position to close the water path, resulting in continuous water leakage. Therefore, how to improve the deficiencies of the prior art is the primary goal of people in this field. Utility Model Content
[0006] Therefore, in order to effectively solve the above problems, the main purpose of the utility model is to provide a quick connector guide structure that can directly correct the radial offset of the male and female quick connectors, and can smoothly correct the radial eccentricity between the two connectors to provide a combined quick connector guide structure.
[0007] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the utility model provides a quick connector guide structure, which is used to guide a pair of male and female quick connectors to correct radial offset, and is characterized in that the quick connector guide structure comprises:
[0008] A guide sleeve has a combination end, a guide end and a guide channel, the guide channel is arranged inside the guide sleeve and is located between the combination end and the guide end, the combination end is closed and has a combination hole connected to the guide channel, the combination hole provides the male connector for insertion and combination with the guide sleeve, the guide end is open and has a guide hole, the end edge of the guide end has an inclined guide slope, the guide hole is connected to the guide channel, and the guide end can guide the female connector into the guide channel and dock with the male connector.
[0009] The quick connector guide structure, wherein: the guide sleeve and the male connector are combined with each other in a tight fit or non-tight fit manner.
[0010] The quick connector guide structure, wherein: the outer edge of the guide sleeve has a through hole, the through hole penetrates the guide sleeve in the radial direction of the guide sleeve and is connected to the guide channel.
[0011] The quick connector guide structure further comprises a fixing element which is inserted into the combination of the through hole and the guide sleeve and provides axial limitation of the male connector relative to the guide sleeve.
[0012] The quick connector guide structure, wherein: the male connector has a sleeve portion and a plug-in portion, the sleeve portion has a flange; the combination hole of the combined end of the guide sleeve has a step portion, the male connector is inserted into the guide channel of the guide sleeve through the plug-in portion from the aforementioned combination hole to be combined with the guide sleeve, and the flange of the sleeve portion is clamped in the step portion of the combination hole.
[0013] The quick connector guide structure, wherein: a limiting platform is provided in the guide channel of the guide sleeve.
[0014] The quick connector guide structure, wherein: the fixing element is a latch, a screw or a spring buckle.
[0015] The quick connector guide structure, wherein: the guide sleeve and the male connector are fixed by welding.
[0016] The quick connector guide structure, wherein: the guide sleeve also has an axial groove, which is formed by the axial extension of the combination end toward the guide end.
[0017] The quick connector guide structure, wherein: the guide sleeve has a through hole and an axial groove, the through hole penetrates the guide sleeve in the radial direction of the guide sleeve and communicates with the guide channel; the axial groove is formed by the axial extension of the combination end toward the guide end.
[0018] The utility model can make it possible to eliminate the need for additional guide posts and guide seats on the male and female joints, and can directly use the guide sleeve to correct the radial offset and perform axial butt joint, thereby reducing the wear of the male and female joints caused by the joint. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] Figure 1 It is a three-dimensional exploded view of the first embodiment of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model;
[0020] Figure 2 It is a combined cross-sectional view of the first embodiment of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model;
[0021] Figure 3 It is a three-dimensional exploded view of the second embodiment of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model;
[0022] Figure 4 It is a combined cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model;
[0023] Figure 5 It is a three-dimensional exploded view of the third embodiment of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model;
[0024] Figure 6 It is a three-dimensional exploded view of the fourth embodiment of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model;
[0025] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of the operation of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model;
[0026] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the operation of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model;
[0027] Fig. 9 It is a schematic diagram of the operation of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model.
[0028] Explanation of the reference numerals: guide sleeve 1; combination end 11; combining hole 111; step 112; guide end 12; guide hole 121; guide slope 1211; guide channel 13; limiting platform 131; through hole 14; axial groove 15; male connector 2; socket portion 21; flange 211; neck 212; plug-in portion 22; female connector 3; fixing element 5; server cabinet 6; server housing 7. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0029] The above-mentioned purpose and the structural and functional characteristics of the present invention will be described based on the preferred embodiments of the accompanying drawings.
[0030] See also Figure 1 , Figure 2, which are respectively the three-dimensional exploded and combined cross-sectional views of the first embodiment of the quick connector guide structure of the utility model. As shown in the figure, the quick connector guide structure of the utility model is used to guide a pair of male and female quick connectors to correct radial offset. The quick connector guide structure comprises: a guide sleeve 1;
[0031] The guide sleeve 1 has a combination end 11, a guide end 12 and a guide channel 13. The guide channel 13 is arranged inside the guide sleeve 1 and is located between the combination end 11 and the guide end 12. The combination end 11 has a combination hole 111 and is connected to the guide channel 13. The combination hole 111 provides the male connector 2 for insertion and combination with the guide sleeve 1.
[0032] The male connector 2 has a sleeve portion 21 and an insert portion 22, the sleeve portion 21 has a flange 211 and a neck 212, and has a step portion 112 in the combining hole 111 of the combined end 11 of the guide sleeve 1. The male connector 2 is inserted into the guide channel 13 of the guide sleeve 1 through the insert portion 22 from the combining hole 111 to be combined with the guide sleeve 1, and the flange 211 of the sleeve portion 21 is just clamped in the step portion 112 of the combining hole 111, so that the male connector 2 has an axial limiting effect. In addition, the male connector 2 and the guide sleeve 1 can also be combined and fixed in a tight fit manner, but it is not limited to this.
[0033] The guide end 12 has a guide hole 121 , and an inner edge thereof has an inclined guide slope 1211 . The guide hole 121 is connected to the guide channel 13 . The guide end 12 guides the female connector 3 into the guide channel 13 to dock with the male connector 2 .
[0034] The main purpose of the utility model is to first assemble the male connector 2 with the guide sleeve 1, and the male connector 2 first extends the plug-in portion 22 to be plugged with the female connector 3 into the guide channel 13, and then the guide sleeve 1 provides correction for the radial offset of the male and female connectors 2 and 3 before they are connected to each other, and the female connector 3 is guided into the guide channel 13 by the guide slope 1211 provided on the inner edge of the guide hole 121 of the guide sleeve 1. Since the guide sleeve 1 and the male connector 2 are coaxially arranged, when the female connector 3 is successfully guided into the guide channel 13, it is also coaxial or nearly coaxial with the male connector 2, so that the wear caused by the male connector 2 and the female connector 3 when they are connected can be avoided, so that the sealing of each connection point when the male connector 2 and the female connector 3 are connected and the sealing elements of the male and female connectors 2 and 3 are kept intact, and it is ensured that the water valve arranged between the two is indeed sealed without leakage.
[0035] The guide channel 13 of the guide sleeve 1 has a limiting platform 131 therein. Since the aperture of the guide channel 13 of the guide sleeve 1 is larger than the aperture of the combining hole 111 , the limiting platform 131 is formed at the bottom of the guide channel 13 .
[0036] The aperture of the guide channel 13 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the female connector 3. When the female connector 3 enters the guide channel 13 and docks with the male connector 2, the female connector 3 will eventually abut against the limit platform 131. This can avoid the different lengths of the male and female connectors 2 and 3 of different models from being inserted too deeply into each other, thereby causing the internal spring to be excessively squeezed and permanently deformed, and lose its elastic restoring force, making it impossible to provide the work of resetting the valve body inside the male and female connectors 2 and 3 to close the water path.
[0037] Please refer to Figure 3 , Figure 4 , which are respectively a three-dimensional exploded view and a combined cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model. As shown in the figure, part of the structure of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, so it will not be repeated here. The difference between this embodiment and the first embodiment is that the outer edge of the guide sleeve 1 has a through hole 14, and the through hole 14 penetrates the guide sleeve 1 in the radial direction of the guide sleeve 1 and is connected to the guide channel 13.
[0038] When the male connector 2 and the guide sleeve 1 are not tightly fitted, a fixing element 5 can be inserted through the through hole 14, and the fixing element 5 is inserted into the guide channel 13 of the guide sleeve 1 through the through hole 14, and the flange 211 of the sleeve portion 21 of the male connector 2 is just clamped on the step 112 of the combination hole 111, providing an axial limit to prevent the male connector 2 from being inserted too deeply into the guide sleeve 1. Alternatively, the male connector 2 and the guide sleeve 1 can be fixed by welding, gluing or other methods.
[0039] In addition, when the fixing element 5 passes through the through hole 14 and enters the guide sleeve 1, the fixing element 5 just contacts the neck 212 of the male connector 2. The fixing element 5 provides axial limitation for the male connector 2 relative to the guide sleeve 1 to prevent it from being pulled out. The fixing element 5 can be a pin, a screw, a spring pin or other fixable elements.
[0040] See also Figure 5, which is a three-dimensional exploded view of the third embodiment of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model. As shown in the figure, part of the structure of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, so it will not be repeated here. The difference between this embodiment and the first embodiment is that the guide sleeve 1 has an axial groove 15, and the axial groove 15 is formed by the axial extension of the combination end 11 toward the guide end 12. The axial groove 15 radially divides the combination end 11 of the guide sleeve 1 into at least two parts, so that the combination end 11 has a radially retractable elastic clamping characteristic. When the male connector 2 is engaged with the combination end 11, the guide sleeve 1 can provide an elastic clamping effect on the male connector 2, so that the guide sleeve 1 does not need an additional fixing element and can be fixed to the outside of the male connector 2 by elastic clamping.
[0041] See also Figure 6 , which is a three-dimensional exploded view of the fourth embodiment of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model. As shown in the figure, part of the structure of this embodiment is the same as the first, second and third embodiments mentioned above, so it will not be repeated here. The difference between this embodiment and the second and third embodiments mentioned above is that the guide sleeve 1 has both the axial groove 15 and the through hole 14, and the fixing element 5 is penetrated in the through hole 14 to further limit and fix the axial position of the male connector 2.
[0042] See also Figure 7 , Figure 8 , Fig. 9 , which is a schematic diagram of the operation of the guide structure of the quick connector of the utility model. As shown in the figure, the Figure 7 , Figure 8 , Fig. 9 The left side is the fixed side. This embodiment uses the server cabinet 6 as an example. The components on the fixed side (server cabinet 6) are the female connector 3 and other components installed on the server cabinet 6. This embodiment only uses the female connector 3 as an example. The other parts are not shown or described in detail. Figure 7 , Figure 8 , Fig. 9 The unit component on the right side is the movable side relative to the server cabinet 6, and is a server casing 7 that is slidably matched with the server cabinet 6 for illustrative implementation. The quick connector guide structure of the utility model cooperates with a movable mechanism that can provide relative radial offset. When the guide sleeve 1 guides the male and female connectors 2 and 3 to correct the radial offset, the radial sliding offset is provided by the movable mechanism. This embodiment does not specifically limit the type of the movable mechanism, and no additional description or representation is given for other components on the server casing 7.
[0043] The guide structure of the quick connector of the present invention is mainly to comply with the Open Computer Project (OCP), and any male and female connectors 2 and 3 that meet the specifications shall not be further processed or their specifications shall not be changed at will. In order to solve the problem of providing radial offset correction for the male and female connectors 2 and 3 with radial offset in the conventional structure, the present invention is to first assemble a guide sleeve 1 with a male connector 2, and after the guide sleeve 1 and the male connector 2 are assembled, the male connector 2 is assembled with the aforementioned movable mechanism through its other end.
[0044] Afterwards, since the female connector 3 and the male connector 2 arranged on the fixed side (server cabinet 6) are not on the same axial track, there is a slight radial offset between the two. Therefore, before the two (male and female connectors 2, 3) are axially docked, the radial offset between the two must be corrected to within the error range to allow docking.
[0045] The female connector 3 contacts the guide slope 1211 of the guide sleeve 1 through the outer edge of one of its free ends. Since this portion is not used as a closed waterway and is relatively wear-resistant compared to other portions, it is used as the portion in contact with the guide sleeve 1.
[0046] When the guide sleeve 1 continues to displace axially toward the female connector 3, the guide sleeve 1 generates radial movement through the guidance of the guide slope 1211 and simultaneously drives the male connector 2 assembled with the guide sleeve 1 to move radially. As the female connector 3 completely enters the guide channel 13, the male connector 2, the female connector 3 and the guide sleeve 1 arranged in the guide channel 13 are close to being coaxial, and the original radial offset between the male and female connectors 2 and 3 is also corrected to be close to zero. Finally, the male connector 2 is inserted into the female connector 3 and the two complete the docking operation.
[0047] The utility model mainly uses the guide sleeve 1 to replace the direct contact between the male connector 2 and the female connector 3 for the correction of the radial offset, so as to avoid the wear caused by the male connector 2 and the female connector 3 when they are connected, thereby making the sealing between the various connection points of the male connector 2 and the female connector 3 and the various sealing elements of the male and female connectors 2 and 3 remain intact, and ensure that the water valve arranged between the two is truly sealed without leakage.
[0048] Furthermore, the setting of the limiting platform 131 inside the guide sleeve 1 provides two male and female connectors 2 and 3 of different specifications, and the limiting platform 131 can limit the axial engagement depth of the two male and female connectors 2 and 3 of different specifications, thereby preventing the two male and female connectors 2 and 3 of different specifications from being inserted too deeply due to different lengths. It also prevents the external oblique conical surface of the plug-in portion 22 of the male connector 2 and the oblique conical surface in the inner hole of the female connector 3 from excessively fitting or rubbing when engaging, or the two inner and outer oblique conical surfaces from getting stuck with each other and being unable to disengage.
[0049] The utility model eliminates the need for the conventional arrangement of guide posts and guide seats to correct the radial offset of the male and female connectors 2 and 3, which not only saves a large amount of component installation costs, but also improves the problem of excessive space congestion between server cabinets and server casings.
Claims
1. A quick connector guide structure is used to guide a pair of male and female quick connectors to correct radial offset, characterized in that: The quick connector guide structure comprises: A guide sleeve has a combination end, a guide end and a guide channel, the guide channel is arranged inside the guide sleeve and is located between the combination end and the guide end, the combination end is closed and has a combination hole connected to the guide channel, the combination hole provides a male connector for insertion and combination with the guide sleeve, the guide end is open and has a guide hole, the end edge of the guide end has an inclined guide slope, the guide hole is connected to the guide channel, and the guide end can guide the female connector into the guide channel and dock with the male connector.
2. The quick connector guide structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The guide sleeve and the male connector are combined with each other in a tight fit or non-tight fit manner.
3. The quick connector guide structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The outer edge of the guide sleeve is provided with a through hole, and the through hole penetrates the guide sleeve in the radial direction of the guide sleeve and is connected with the guide channel.
4. The quick connector guide structure according to claim 3, characterized in that: A fixing element is also provided, which is inserted into the combination of the through hole and the guide sleeve and provides axial limitation of the male connector relative to the guide sleeve.
5. The quick connector guide structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The male connector has a sleeve portion and a plug-in portion, the sleeve portion has a flange; the combination hole of the combined end of the guide sleeve has a step portion, the male connector is inserted into the guide channel of the guide sleeve through the plug-in portion from the aforementioned combination hole to be combined with the guide sleeve, and the flange of the sleeve portion is clamped in the step portion of the combination hole.
6. The quick connector guide structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: A limiting platform is provided in the guiding channel of the guiding sleeve.
7. The quick connector guide structure according to claim 4, characterized in that: The fixing element is a latch, a screw or a spring buckle.
8. The quick connector guide structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The guide sleeve and the male connector are fixed by welding.
9. The quick connector guide structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The guide sleeve also has an axial slot formed by axially extending the combination end toward the guide end.
10. The quick connector guide structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The guide sleeve has a through hole and an axial groove. The through hole penetrates the guide sleeve in the radial direction of the guide sleeve and communicates with the guide channel. The axial groove is formed by the axial extension of the combination end toward the guide end.