Floating Torque Ring Coupling for Precise Housing Joining
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-performance devices like missiles and underwater vehicles face challenges in precision coupling of cylindrically-shaped body sections due to radial fasteners, which encroach on inner chamber space and are prone to slippage due to tolerance issues, leading to operational problems.
Innovation Solution
A component assembly using a coupling body with threaded portions and a floating torque ring that axially slidably interfaces, allowing for precise alignment and joining of body sections without inward-protruding fasteners, utilizing a floating torque ring to rotate the coupling body and join the housings independently of their axial positions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If radial fasteners are used to join body sections, then the joining function is achieved, but the inner chamber space is reduced and slippage occurs due to tolerance issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes radial fasteners from the inner chamber area entirely. Instead, it uses a coupling body with external threading that joins body sections from the outside, eliminating the space encroachment problem while maintaining joining functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The coupling body acts as an intermediary component that mediates the joining between body sections. It features external threads that engage with internal threads in the body sections, providing a precise joining mechanism without requiring radial fasteners to penetrate the inner chamber.
2Reliability
If radial fasteners are used to join body sections, then the joining function is achieved, but slippage occurs due to tolerance issues and radial fastener limitations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the radial fastener mechanical system with a threaded coupling system. The coupling body uses axial threading mechanics to achieve precise alignment and stable joining, eliminating the slippage problems associated with radial fasteners and tolerance accumulation.
3Reliability
If body sections are joined with radial fasteners, then the joining function is achieved, but the device diameter must be increased to accommodate fasteners
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the fastening function from the radial direction and relocates it to the axial direction through external threading. This eliminates the need for increased device diameter to accommodate radial fasteners, as the coupling body joins sections from the outside without penetrating the inner chamber.
4Manufacturing precision
If floating torque ring is used to rotate coupling body, then precise alignment is achieved independent of axial positions, but the mechanism complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a floating torque ring that can dynamically adjust its axial position to accommodate variations in the axial positions of body sections. This dynamic capability allows precise alignment to be achieved regardless of initial positioning, while the floating nature simplifies the overall coupling process.
Data Source
AI summary
A component assembly comprises a first housing and a second housing jointed by a coupling assembly. The coupling assembly comprises a coupling body and a floating torque ring axially slidably interfaced to the coupling body. The coupling body comprises a first threaded portion engaged with a first threaded coupling section of the first housing, and a second threaded portion engaged with a second threaded coupling section of the second housing. The floating torque ring is radially fixed to the coupling body, and is axially movable relative to the coupling body. Rotation of the floating torque ring causes relative rotation of the coupling body, thereby threadably joining the first housing and the second housing about the coupling body independent of axial positions of the housings due to the axially movable floating torque ring. A method of joining the housings is provided.