Thermoregulation Connection Assembly With Misalignment Compensation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing connection assemblies for thermoregulation circuits, such as those used in cooling circuits with heat exchange plates, face challenges due to manufacturing and assembly tolerances leading to misalignment and wear issues, with existing solutions being either too bulky or lacking lateral clearance and tilting capabilities.
Innovation Solution
A compact connection assembly design featuring a flange with internal orifices, a cover, and gaskets that allow for translational and rotational movement, enabling lateral clearance and angular compensation through the use of male and female fluidic coupling elements with tubular portions and external collars, allowing for alignment and secure coupling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If lateral clearance is provided for coupling elements to compensate for misalignment, then alignment tolerance is improved, but device complexity and bulk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The flange is designed with mobility relative to the cover, allowing dynamic adjustment during coupling. The flange can translate laterally and rotate angularly within the cover's internal space, enabling automatic alignment compensation without requiring complex external adjustment mechanisms. This dynamic capability resolves the contradiction by providing alignment tolerance through controlled movement rather than fixed structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution moves from a fixed two-dimensional coupling interface to a three-dimensional movable joint. The flange operates within the cover's internal volume, utilizing lateral translation and angular rotation in multiple dimensions to achieve alignment compensation. This dimensional expansion allows the system to absorb misalignment errors without increasing overall device bulk.
2Volume of moving object
If a compact connection assembly is designed, then device size is reduced, but lateral clearance and tilting capability for misalignment compensation are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The flange is nested within the cover's internal space, utilizing the cover's hollow volume to accommodate the flange's lateral and angular movements. This nesting arrangement allows the compact connection assembly to provide full misalignment compensation capability without increasing external dimensions, as the movement space is contained within the existing structural envelope.
Solution Approach 2:
The movable flange design enables the compact assembly to dynamically adapt to misalignment conditions. Within the constrained volume, the flange can translate and rotate to compensate for spacing faults and angular errors, maintaining adaptability despite the reduced overall size of the connection assembly.
3Stability of the object's composition
If coupling elements are rigidly fixed, then structural stability is improved, but wear and sticking risk due to manufacturing tolerances increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flange is designed with controlled mobility relative to the cover, allowing it to translate laterally and rotate angularly during coupling. This dynamic capability enables the system to absorb manufacturing tolerances and misalignment errors, preventing sticking and wear that would occur with rigid fixation. The structural stability is maintained through the cover's constraint of the flange's movement within defined boundaries.
Solution Approach 2:
The movable joint design provides beforehand cushioning by allowing the flange to naturally accommodate misalignment during the coupling process. The system is designed in advance to absorb potential alignment errors through controlled movement, preventing the harmful effects of sticking and wear before they can occur during operation.
Data Source
AI summary
The connection assembly (100) which includes a flange (140) has two internal orifices (150) crossing through and centered on orifice axes (A150) parallel to each other, a front surface (142) and a rear surface (144) parallel to a transverse plane (P140) transverse to the orifice axes (A150), two fluidic coupling elements (170), that have a male body (172) received in a corresponding internal orifice, and a cover (120), configured for being attached to a support (110) in a mounted configuration of the connection assembly. The flange can move with respect to the cover according to a movement supported by the transverse plane, whereas for each male body, a second gasket (188) is interposed radially between the male body and an internal radial surface (S162) of the corresponding internal orifice, each male body being mounted in the corresponding internal orifice and can be tilted with respect to the corresponding orifice axis.