Quick Connector Sleeve Locking for Sealing Ring Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing quick connectors face challenges with high production costs and material fragility when using high-temperature resistant materials, as they require flexible designs and complex geometries to prevent leakage, which can lead to misalignment and reduced sealing efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A quick connector design featuring a housing with a receiving chamber and a sealing chamber surrounded by sealing rings, where a closure unit with extendable arms provides a tension-free locking mechanism, eliminating the need for undercuts and allowing the use of brittle materials for high-temperature applications, while maintaining sealing efficiency through a positive connection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the sleeve and quick connector are designed to be flexible or resilient to prevent leakage, then sealing reliability is improved, but material selection is limited and production cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The closure unit is divided into separate functional components: the sleeve for sealing and the arms for locking. This segmentation allows the sleeve to be made from brittle high-temperature resistant materials while the arms provide the necessary mechanical flexibility for locking, resolving the contradiction between sealing reliability and material selection versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The arms act as an intermediary mechanism between the sleeve and the housing. Instead of requiring the sleeve itself to be flexible for locking, the arms mediate the locking function while the sleeve maintains its integrity with brittle materials, thus improving both sealing reliability and material adaptability.
2Reliability
If the circumferential groove is designed as an undercut to fasten the sleeve, then the sleeve is retained in position, but manufacturing complexity and production cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of creating an undercut groove in the housing to retain the sleeve, the invention inverts the approach by having the arms extend from the sleeve to lock onto protrusions on the housing. This eliminates the need for complex undercut grooves while achieving reliable sleeve retention, thus improving ease of manufacture without sacrificing retention reliability.
3Reliability
If the sleeve is inserted into the circumferential groove with tension, then the sleeve is secured in position, but brittle materials may rupture and sealing alignment deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The arms are designed with inherent flexibility to absorb insertion forces before they reach the sleeve. This beforehand cushioning prevents stress concentration on brittle materials during assembly, allowing tension-free insertion while maintaining reliable sleeve positioning and preventing material rupture.
4Ease of operation
If the sleeve is made flexible to allow insertion and removal, then ease of assembly is improved, but material selection for high-temperature applications is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The closure unit is segmented into the sleeve (for sealing with brittle high-temperature materials) and the arms (for mechanical operation with flexible properties). This segmentation enables ease of assembly through flexible arms while the sleeve can be made from high-temperature resistant brittle materials, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and temperature resistance.
Data Source
AI summary
A quick connector includes a housing having a receiving chamber for receiving, in a fluid-tight manner, a connecting piece, the receiving chamber transitioning into a line portion for conveying a fluid. A sealing chamber, which surrounds at least parts of the circumference of the receiving chamber and has at least one sealing ring arranged in the sealing chamber. A closure unit for locking the at least one sealing ring in the sealing chamber. The closure unit includes a sleeve, which delimits at least parts of the sealing chamber and has at least one arm extending from the sleeve, which arm is designed to lock the closure unit on the housing.