Tubular Press Socket Cup Geometry for Uniform Seal Strength
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tubular press connection designs for piping components face issues with asymmetric seal strength due to point contacts between the socket and pipe, leading to reduced seal integrity and increased manufacturing costs due to stringent dimensional tolerances.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a socket cup with equidistantly positioned gripper arrays on the internal surface and raised ridges on the external surface, distributing force evenly and allowing for looser tolerances, enhancing the sealing capability and mechanical performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If hexagonal or circular-shaped joinery sockets are used with pressing jaws, then the socket can be effectively crimped onto the pipe end, but point contacts occur between the socket and pipe leading to asymmetric seal strength and reduced seal integrity
Solution Approach 1:
The socket incorporates circumferentially spaced gripping features (such as barbs, gripper rings, or gripper sleeves) at specific locations around the circumference, rather than uniform distribution. These localized gripping features concentrate the deformation force at discrete points, creating asymmetric stress distribution that improves grip on the pipe while maintaining seal integrity through the O-ring's natural conformability to the pipe surface.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention intentionally introduces asymmetry through the non-uniform circumferential distribution of gripping features on the socket. This asymmetric configuration allows the socket to deform in a controlled manner during pressing, creating strong grip regions at the gripping features while maintaining adequate seal regions between them, thereby resolving the contradiction between grip strength and seal uniformity.
2Strength
If hexagonal jaw pattern is used for copper tubing, then six indentations are formed to affix the socket to the tube, but high tool power is required and the process becomes less economical
Solution Approach 1:
The socket uses localized gripping features (barbs, gripper rings, or gripper sleeves) positioned at specific circumferential locations rather than requiring six-point deformation around the entire circumference. This concentrated local gripping approach achieves adequate connection strength with significantly reduced tool power requirements compared to the traditional hexagonal jaw pattern that must deform the tube at six separate locations.
3Force
If additional means such as barbs, gripper rings and gripper sleeves are added to the socket, then stress concentration is improved for deforming the socket over the pipe, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention incorporates discrete gripping features (barbs, gripper rings, or gripper sleeves) at specific circumferential locations on the socket rather than adding complex features uniformly around the entire socket. This selective local addition of features provides the necessary stress concentration for effective deformation while minimizing the overall increase in device complexity compared to a fully featured design.
Data Source
AI summary
A connection socket for a tubular press connection including a socket cup having a metal alloy composition and comprising: an O-ring portion defining an O-ring recess; a plurality of gripper arrays positioned equidistant along an internal surface of the socket cup; and a plurality of raised ridges positioned equidistant on an exterior surface of the socket cup. The raised ridges may extend over the gripper arrays.