Housing joint and method for connecting pipe material using the same

Abstract

To provide a housing joint that is excellent in pipe material connection workability and sealability.SOLUTION: A housing joint includes: a rotating connection part for connecting one end sides of a pair of housings so as to be freely rotatable; and a fastening part for fastening the other sides with a bolt so as to narrow the interval therebetween. A ring-shaped seal member is disposed on an inside of the pair of housings. Ring-shaped recess parts are formed along inner peripheral surfaces of the pair of housings to permit a center part in a width direction of the seal member to swell up.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a joint used for connecting pipes, and more particularly to a housing-type joint. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Housing joints, in which pipes to be connected are butted together, a self-sealing gasket is attached to the outer periphery of the butt joint, and then a pair of housings are used to fasten them from the outer periphery side, are widely used. However, when attaching the gasket to the butt joint of a pair of pipes, it was easy for the gasket to get pinched between the pair of pipes, or when placing the housing on the outer periphery of the gasket, the gasket would easily get pinched between the housing and the outer periphery of the pipe. Furthermore, when fastening the pair of housings together, there is a problem in that the gasket gets caught between the ends of the pair of housings.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a pipe joint in which one end of a split housing is rotatably connected by a hinge pin and the other end is provided with a toggle arm, but the structure is complex and it is not very versatile. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses a coupling having an annular rib with non-uniform width so that the clamping of the outer periphery of the pipe by the two opposing clamp members is uniform; however, this does not prevent the gasket from becoming caught. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 7-28290 [Patent Document 2] JP 2015-148341 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a housing joint that is excellent in connection workability and sealing properties for pipe materials. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The housing joint of the present invention is a housing joint having a pivotal connecting portion that rotatably connects one end side of a pair of housings, and a fastening portion that is bolted to narrow the gap on the other end side, and is characterized in that a ring-shaped sealing member is disposed inside the pair of housings, and a ring-shaped recess is formed along the inner surface of the pair of housings to allow the widthwise central portion of the sealing member to expand.

[0007] Here, the pivotal connection portion that rotatably connects one end of a pair of housings means that one end of the pair of housings is connected so that the distance between the other end of the pair of housings can be opened and closed in the circumferential direction. The connection structure may be an axial connection using a pin member or a bolt member, or a pivot connection at each of the protruding and recessed portions, and there is no restriction on the connection method as long as it is rotatable.

[0008] Also, the other ends of the pair of housings can be fastened together with bolts or the like so that the gap between them becomes smaller in the circumferential direction.

[0009] In the housing joint of the present invention, the ends of a pair of pipes to be connected are butted together, and a ring-shaped self-sealing seal member (gasket) is pre-attached to the outer periphery of this butt joint, and then the pair of housings are fastened together. Alternatively, the seal member may be placed inside the pair of housings in advance, and the ends of the pair of pipes may be inserted from both sides of the seal member.

[0010] A sealing member having a self-sealing structure has a sealing lip that is pressed against the outer periphery of each end of a pair of pipes so that sealing pressure is secured by fluid pressure, and this sealing member is tightened from the outer periphery by a pair of housings. The present invention is characterized in that the seal member bulges in the widthwise central portion along the inner circumferential surfaces of the pair of housings, and a ring-shaped recess is formed to accommodate the bulge. This makes it easier for a pressing force to be applied to the seal lips on both sides of the seal member in the width direction when the seal member is tightened toward the outer periphery of the pipe material by the pair of housings.

[0011] In the present invention, it is preferable that the inside dimension of the pivot connection side of the pair of housings with respect to the central axis is set smaller than the inside dimension of the fastening portion side. In the housing joint of the present invention, one end of a pair of housings is pivotally connected, and when the other end is tightened toward the outer periphery of the pipe material, the compression rate applied to the sealing member tends to be smaller on the pivotal connection side than on the fastening side. Therefore, by making the inner dimension of the pivotal connection side smaller than the fastening side in advance, a uniform compression rate can be obtained around the entire circumference of the sealing member.

[0012] In the present invention, the pair of housings are elliptical in shape such that, when fastened with the bolts, the inner diameter dimension in the direction of the pivotal connection and fastening portion is larger than the inner diameter dimension in the direction perpendicular to the elliptical shape, thereby reducing deformation of the sealing material when the bolts are fastened and preventing jamming.Furthermore, it is preferable that the end face shape on the fastening portion side of the pair of housings is located in the center in the width direction and has an inclined portion facing the width direction and parallel portions on both sides of the inclined portion. If a widthwise inclined portion is formed on the divided surfaces at the widthwise center of the end faces on the fastening portion side of the pair of housings, it is possible to prevent the seal member from becoming caught between the pair of divided surfaces.

[0013] The present invention is characterized in that a method for connecting pipe materials using any of the above-mentioned housing joints involves opening the fastening portions of a pair of housings, placing the sealing member on the inside, and inserting ends of the pipe materials from both sides of the housings toward the inner side of the sealing member, and bolting the fastening portions of the pair of housings. In this case, the sealing member may have a protrusion at the center of the inner periphery in the width direction against which the end of the pipe abuts, and the sealing member may be inserted so that the end of the pipe abuts against the protrusion. Furthermore, if the above-mentioned protrusion has a notch of a predetermined width in the circumferential direction, the notch causes the protrusion to deform inwardly when the fastening portion of the housing is fastened with a bolt, making it easier to fasten. In addition, the protrusions become more easily deformed when reconnecting existing piping, making it easier to replace the sealing members. Effect of the Invention

[0014] The housing joint of the present invention, when one end of a pair of housings is made into a pivotable connection part and the other end is made into a fastening part tightened with a bolt or the like, can prevent the sealing pressure on the pivotable connection part side from weakening, thereby improving sealing performance while improving the workability of piping connections. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1(a) shows the state where the fastening portion sides of the pair of housings of the housing joint are opened in the outer circumferential direction, and the seal member, and 1(b) shows the state where the seal member is attached to the inside of the pair of housings. [Diagram 2] 1A is a view of a housing joint as seen from the fastening portion side, and FIG. 1B is a partial cross-sectional view of a seal member. [Diagram 3] The flow of connecting pipes using housing joints is shown in (a) to (d). [Figure 4] The deformation of the seal member caused by the fastening of the housing is shown in (a) to (c). [Diagram 5] The cross-sectional shape of a pair of housings fastened to a pipe is shown. [Figure 6] 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams illustrating the relationship between a pair of housings and a seal member. [Figure 7] This shows an example in which a notch is provided in the ring-shaped protrusion on the inner circumference of the seal member, where (a) shows the seal member before attachment to the housing joint and (b) shows after attachment. [Figure 8](a) shows an enlarged view (Z1) of FIG. 7(a), and (b) shows an enlarged view (Z2) of FIG. 7(b). DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] An example of the structure of a housing joint according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0017] FIG. 1(a) shows an example of a housing joint 10 and a seal member 20, and FIG. 1(b) shows the state in which the seal member 20 is attached to the inside of the housing joint 10. The housing joint 10 is composed of a pair of a first housing 11 and a second housing 12, each of which has a semicircular shape. The pair of first housing 11 and second housing 12 have one end which forms a rotational connection portion A that is rotatably connected by a bolt 13 and a nut 14, and the other end which forms a fastening portion B that is fastened by a bolt or the like described below. In this embodiment, the rotational connection portion A is also connected by a bolt and a nut, but it may be connected by a pin. The first housing 11 and the second housing 12 are generally symmetrical about the rotational joint A, and will be described based on corresponding reference numerals. The first and second housings 11, 12 have rotating connecting pieces 11a, 12a on one side and dividing surfaces 11b, 12b on the other side, and have fastening pieces 11c, 12c for tightening the dividing surfaces together, and these fastening pieces 11c, 12c have bolt insertion holes 11d, 12c, respectively.

[0018] The pipes 1, 2 to be connected to the piping have ring groove portions 1a, 2a formed by groove processing or the like as shown in Figure 4, and seal lips 21, 22 provided on both sides in the width direction of a seal member 20 are pressed and sealed to the pipe ends 1b, 2b closer to the end than the ring groove portions 1a, 2a. Therefore, the first and second housings 11, 12 have ribs 11f, 12f, 11g, 12g on both sides in the width direction (axial direction) that engage with the ring groove portions 1a, 2a of the pipe materials 1, 2, and mounting step portions 11i, 12i in which the sealing member 20 is arranged between the ribs on both sides, and further have ring-shaped recesses 11e, 12e on the central side in the width direction.

[0019] As shown in Figures 2 and 4, the sealing member 20 has sealing lips 21, 22 protruding inward on both sides in the width direction from a base 20a, and a ring-shaped convex portion 23 on the central side against which the ends of the pipe materials 1, 2 abut, and has bag-shaped portions 21a, 22a so that fluid can flow between the convex portion 23 and the sealing lips 21, 22, creating a self-sealing function.

[0020] FIG. 3 shows the flow of connecting the pipes 1 and 2. With the seal member 20 attached to the inside of the housing joint 10, an end of a pipe 1 is inserted from one side, and an end of a pipe 2 is inserted from the other side (a), (b). Next, the bolt 16 is inserted into the bolt insertion holes 11d, 12d of the fastening portion, and is tightened from the opposite side with the bolt 15 for fastening (c), (d).

[0021] As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, a bulge 24 is formed in the center of the outer circumferential surface of the base 20a of the seal member 20 toward the recesses 11e, 12e of the first and second housings, thereby increasing the pressing force on the seal lips 21, 22 from both sides.

[0022] In addition, in the present invention, the inner surfaces of the first and second housings 11 and 12 have reduced diameter portions 11h and 12h formed on the side of the rotating connection portion A as shown in Figures 1 and 5. When the fastening portion B is tightened, the reduced diameter portions 11h and 12h are gradually reduced in diameter so that the inner dimension R1 of the rotating connection portion A from the axial center O becomes smaller than the inner dimension R2 of the fastening portion B. As a result, the fastening portion B side of the sealing member 20 is subjected to a large compression rate when the fastening portion is tightened, but since the inner dimension of the rotating connecting portion A side is made smaller in advance, the compression rate becomes uniform around the entire circumference of the sealing member 20.

[0023] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the shape of the dividing surfaces 11b, 12b of the first and second housings is such that the dividing surface at the widthwise center is formed as an inclined portion in the widthwise direction, and parallel portions 111b, 211b, 112b, 212b are formed on both sides of the dividing surface, thereby preventing the outer peripheral surface of the sealing member 20 from getting caught in the inclined portions, and the left and right parallel portions 111b, 211b, 112b, 212b abut against each other, thereby preventing misalignment of the first and second housings in the left and right direction.

[0024] In the housing joint according to this embodiment, the inner and outer shapes of the pair of housings are elliptical, as shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between the seal member and the pair of housings. The sealing member (gasket) has a shape close to a perfect circle, and as shown in (a), the pair of housings is opened and the sealing member is placed inside. In this state, the seal member is designed to be subjected to as little deformation force as possible so that the pipes can be easily inserted from both sides. The pair of housings are elliptical in shape, with the inner diameter d2 in the AB direction being set larger than the inner diameter d1 in the direction perpendicular thereto. As a result, when fastening portion B is closed, the sealing member is first held inside the pair of housings from the vertical direction as shown in Figure 6(b), and then fastening portion B is further tightened, thereby preventing the sealing member from getting caught while keeping the amount of opening and closing of the pair of housings small.

[0025] 7 and 8 show an example in which notches 23a are formed at three locations along the circumferential direction in a ring-shaped protrusion 23 located on the inner periphery side of the seal member 20 and in the widthwise center portion. In this way, in the sealing member 20 before being attached to the housing shown in Figure 7(a), as shown in the enlarged view of the cutout 23a in Figure 8(a), the cutout 23a has a recessed shape of a predetermined width along the inner circumferential direction, but when the sealing member 20 is attached to the inside of the housing and tightened with bolts, the width of the inner tip side of the cutout 23a deforms so as to become smaller, as shown in Figure 7(b) and the enlarged view Z2 in Figure 8(b). As a result, distortion that occurs when sealing pressure is applied from the outer periphery of the seal member 20 is absorbed by this notch. In this embodiment, an example in which the notches 23a are formed in three places is shown, but the number can be appropriately set according to the inner diameter and compressive force of the seal member. Furthermore, when three or more notches are formed at predetermined intervals in the ring-shaped protrusion 23 provided along the inner circumference of the sealing member 20, as described with reference to Figure 4(a), for example, the protrusion 23 becomes more likely to deform in the axial direction of the first housing 1 and the second housing 2 (the left-right direction in the figure). Therefore, if it becomes necessary to replace the sealing member 20 after the pipe material 1 and the pipe material 2 are connected by piping, the convex portion 23 having the cutout portion 23a makes it easy to deform and easy to install and replace. [Explanation of symbols]

[0026] 11 First Housing 12 Second Housing 20 Sealing material 23a Notch A Rotating joint B Fastening section

Claims

1. a rotation coupling portion that rotatably couples one end side of the pair of housings; and a fastening portion that is fastened with a bolt so that the gap on the other end side becomes narrower. A housing joint characterized in that a ring-shaped seal member is placed inside the pair of housings, and a ring-shaped recess is formed along the inner surfaces of the pair of housings to allow the widthwise central portion of the seal member to expand.

2. 2. A housing joint according to claim 1, wherein an inside dimension of a pivot connection portion side relative to a central axis of said pair of housings is set smaller than an inside dimension of a fastening portion side.

3. 3. A housing joint according to claim 2, wherein the pair of housings have an elliptical shape in which an inner diameter dimension in the direction of the rotational connection portion and the fastening portion is larger than an inner diameter dimension in a direction perpendicular thereto when the pair of housings are fastened with the bolts.

4. A housing joint as described in claim 2, characterized in that the end face shape of the fastening portion of the pair of housings is located in the center in the width direction and has an inclined portion facing in the width direction and parallel portions on both sides of the inclined portion.

5. A method for connecting pipe materials, comprising using a housing joint as described in any one of claims 1 to 4, opening the fastening portions of the pair of housings, placing the sealing member on the inside, inserting ends of pipe materials from both sides of the housings toward the inner side of the sealing member, and bolting the fastening portions of the pair of housings.

6. A method for connecting pipes according to claim 5, characterized in that the sealing member has a protrusion at the center of the inner periphery in the width direction against which the end of the pipe abuts, and the pipe is inserted so that the end of the pipe abuts against the protrusion.

7. 7. A method for connecting pipes according to claim 6, wherein the convex portion of the sealing member has a notch having a predetermined width in the circumferential direction.

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