Internal Pipe Connection Part Hardening for Heating Medium Apparatus
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The existing connection methods for copper pipes in heating medium utilizing apparatuses require high hardness for connection parts, which limits bending and pipe layout flexibility, necessitating separate manufacturing steps for bending and brazing, thereby increasing manufacturing time.
Innovation Solution
A process involving pipe expanding and shrinking to harden the tip portion of internal pipes, allowing the use of softer copper pipes (O or OL material) for connection parts, eliminating the need for separate manufacturing steps and achieving both strength and flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If copper pipe of H material with high hardness is used for connection part, then the connection strength is sufficient for ring-type joint, but bending process cannot be done or bending radius has to be large
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a hardened zone at the tip portion of the copper pipe through expanding and shrinking processes. This localized hardening provides the necessary connection strength at the connection part while the rest of the pipe remains soft and bendable, eliminating the need to choose between H material (strong but unbendable) and O/OL material (bendable but weak).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the copper pipe by performing expanding and shrinking processes on the tip portion. These processes alter the hardness parameter locally, transforming the material properties from soft to hard at the connection area while maintaining the original soft properties in other sections, thus resolving the contradiction between strength and bendability.
2Strength
If separate copper pipes for bending and connection are used, then both bending flexibility and connection strength are achieved, but manufacturing time increases due to multiple steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the functions of bending and connection into a single copper pipe by applying local hardening treatment to the tip portion. This eliminates the need for separate pipes and the brazing process, reducing manufacturing steps from multiple (bending + brazing) to a single integrated process, thereby significantly reducing manufacturing time while maintaining both bendability and connection strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the connection function from the entire pipe and concentrates it at the tip portion through local hardening. By taking out the connection requirement from the whole pipe and applying it only to the tip portion, the patent eliminates the need for separate connection pipes and brazing operations, streamlining the manufacturing process.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the formation of high-strength connection parts with easy pipe layout within the apparatus without increasing manufacturing time, as the hardened pipe tips can withstand ring-type joint fastening and support bending, simplifying the manufacturing process.
Implementation Method 1
a pipe expanding process and a pipe shrinking process are carried out to harden a tip portion of an internal pipe
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3(a)~3(c)
AI summary
In a heating medium utilizing apparatus utilizing heating medium heated by a heating device, it is aimed to provide a pipe which achieves both of the strength of a connection part to an external pipe and the ease of pipe layout without increasing a manufacturing time. On a tip portion of an internal pipe through which the heating medium or fluid to be heat-exchanged with the heating medium flows, a pipe expanding process to expand a pipe diameter and a pipe shrinking process to shrink the pipe diameter are carried out, thereby forming the connection part to be connected to the external pipe connected to external equipment by work hardening.