Heating Medium Pipe Connection Hardening for Flexible Layout
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing heating medium utilizing apparatus faces challenges in achieving both the strength of the connection part and easy pipe layout within the apparatus without increasing manufacturing time, as the use of copper pipes with high hardness for connection parts requires separate bending and brazing processes, leading to lengthy manufacturing times.
Innovation Solution
A heating medium utilizing apparatus that employs a pipe expanding and shrinking process to harden the tip portion of internal pipes, allowing for the use of softer copper pipes (O or OL material) and eliminating the need for separate manufacturing steps, thereby achieving strong and flexible connections.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If copper pipe of H material with high hardness is used for connection part, then the strength of connection part is sufficient, but bending process cannot be done or bending radius has to be large
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by creating a connection part with high hardness only at the tip portion of the pipe where connection is needed, while the rest of the pipe maintains its original soft material properties for easy bending. This is achieved through pipe expanding and shrinking processes that locally harden the tip portion without affecting the overall pipe flexibility.
2Strength
If two types of copper pipes (O/OL material and H material) are connected by brazing, then both strength and flexibility are achieved, but manufacturing time increases due to two steps of bending and brazing
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the functions of two different copper pipes into a single pipe by applying pipe expanding and shrinking processes to create a hardened connection part. This eliminates the need for separate bending and brazing steps, reducing manufacturing time while maintaining both flexibility and connection strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The pipe expanding and shrinking processes are performed in advance during pipe manufacturing to pre-harden the tip portion. This preliminary action ensures that the pipe is ready for connection without requiring additional brazing steps later in the manufacturing process.
3Manufacturing precision
If copper pipe of H material is used for connection part, then hardness is sufficient for ring-type joint, but separate manufacturing steps are required
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the physical parameters of the pipe material locally by applying expanding and shrinking processes. These processes alter the crystal structure and hardness of the tip portion without changing the material composition, achieving the required hardness for ring-type joints while maintaining process simplicity.
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 allows for the formation of high-hardness connection parts without increasing manufacturing time, enabling both strong connections and flexible pipe layouts within the apparatus, as the pipe expanding and shrinking processes enhance the hardness of the pipe material to match that of H material, facilitating efficient assembly.
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
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.