Valve Housing Ribs for Material Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
The production costs and material usage for valve housings, particularly in large quantities like thermostatic valves for motor vehicles, are high due to inefficient machining processes and material utilization.
Innovation Solution
Shaping the billet material into a parallelepiped base body with protruding ribs, where inlet and outlet conduits open, and reshaping ribs into pegs with exterior threads to reduce material waste and machining operations, allowing for reduced production costs and time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If conventional extruded billet material with cylindrical thickenings is used, then the valve housing can be produced, but the material usage is high and production costs are increased
Solution Approach 1:
The billet material is segmented into a base body and protruding ribs, where only the necessary portions are machined into conduits. This segmentation allows material to be strategically positioned and minimizes waste by concentrating material only where structural support and conduit formation are needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The billet material is pre-shaped with protruding ribs before machining operations. This preliminary action positions the material optimally so that inlet and outlet conduits can be drilled directly through the ribs, reducing the amount of material removal required and minimizing waste.
2Productivity
If multiple chucking operations are performed for cutting inlet conduits, outlet conduits and receiving bore, then precise machining can be achieved, but production time increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple machining operations are merged into a single chucking operation. The billet material is designed so that inlet conduits, outlet conduits, and receiving bores can all be machined while the workpiece remains clamped once, eliminating the need for multiple chucking operations and reducing production time without sacrificing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The billet material is pre-configured with the receiving bore extending transversely to the extrusion direction before final machining. This preliminary action establishes the spatial relationship between conduits and valve element mounting, allowing subsequent operations to be performed in a single setup while maintaining precision.
3Ease of operation
If ribs are reshaped into pegs with exterior threads after cutting, then connecting lines can be attached, but additional machining operations are required
Solution Approach 1:
The formation of exterior threads on ribs is merged with the main production flow. By integrating thread formation into the overall manufacturing process and using the rib structure itself as the mounting feature, the design eliminates the need for separate thread machining operations on dedicated mounting holes, simplifying the process while maintaining connection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The ribs themselves serve dual purposes: providing structural support and serving as mounting features for connecting lines. By shaping the ribs into pegs with exterior threads, the structure serves its own mounting function without requiring additional dedicated mounting features or complex assembly operations.
Data Source
AI summary
In a valve housing 11, which is constituted by an section of an extruded billet material, into which are formed inlet and outlet conduits 27, 28, 29, 30, which are substantially arranged in a common plane, and a receiving bore 20 for at least one valve element 21, 26, arranged transversely in relation thereto, the billet material is formed as a profiled element provided with ribs 15, 16, 17, 18 which project from a substantially parallelepiped base body and in which ribs the inlet and outlet conduits 27, 28, 29, 30 open.