Patent Application
20240051720
The present application claims the benefit of Chinese Patent Application Nos. CN 2022109637185, filed Aug. 11, 2022, and CN 2023109057131, filed Jul. 21, 2023, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present application relates to the field of cap assemblies. More specifically, the present application relates to a cap assembly of a bottle assembly.
Existing vehicles are provided with refrigeration systems. The refrigeration system comprises a bottle. The bottle defines a bottle head. A coolant may be introduced into the refrigeration system from the bottle head. The bottle head needs to cooperate with a cap assembly matched therewith, such that the cap assembly can lock the bottle head.
Exemplary embodiments of the present application may solve at least some of the above problems. The present application provides a cap assembly configured to lock a bottle. The bottle comprises a bottle head having at least one lock accommodating portion and comprises a bottle body. The cap assembly comprises a cap, an elastic arm and at least one lock portion. The cap defines an annular receiving portion having an opening facing downward, and the bottle head can enter the receiving portion through the opening. The elastic arm is annular and is arranged in the receiving portion. The at least one lock portion is arranged on the cap and is configured to be capable of cooperating with the at least one lock accommodating portion of the bottle head, so as to lock the cap assembly to the bottle head. The elastic arm is configured such that when the cap assembly is locked to the bottle head, the elastic arm abuts against a top wall of the receiving portion and a top wall of the bottle head, to apply forces in opposite directions to the cap and the bottle head, so as to retain the at least one lock portion in the at least one lock accommodating portion.
According to the cap assembly described above, the elastic arm is configured such that when the cap assembly is locked to the bottle head, the elastic arm seals the cap from the bottle head.
According to the cap assembly described above, the cap assembly further comprises an elastic ring arranged in the receiving portion. The elastic arm has a connecting end and a free end. The connecting end is connected to the elastic ring. The elastic arm is configured such that during the process of the at least one lock portion entering into the at least one lock accommodating portion, the free end of the elastic arm abuts against the top wall of the bottle head and moves toward the top wall of the receiving portion.
According to the cap assembly described above, the cap assembly further comprises a cap top, an inner cylinder and a cap side portion. The inner cylinder is formed extending from the cap top. The cap side portion is formed by extending from the cap top, and is arranged around the inner cylinder to form the receiving portion. The elastic ring is sleeved on an outer side of the inner cylinder, so as to prevent the elastic ring from moving relative to the cap.
According to the cap assembly described above, the cap assembly further comprises a sealing ring sleeved on the outer side of the inner cylinder. The sealing ring is configured such that when the cap assembly is locked to the bottle head, the sealing ring abuts against the bottle body, so as to seal the inner cylinder from the bottle body.
According to the cap assembly described above, the sealing ring is configured such that when the cap assembly is locked to the bottle head, a circumferential side portion of the sealing ring abuts against the bottle body, so as to seal the inner cylinder from the bottle body.
According to the cap assembly described above, the sealing ring is configured such that when the cap assembly is locked to the bottle head, a bottom portion of the sealing ring abuts against the bottle body, so as to seal the inner cylinder from the bottle body.
According to the cap assembly described above, the elastic arm and the sealing ring are configured such that during the process of the cap assembly unlocking from the bottle head, the elastic arm abuts against the top wall of the receiving portion and the top wall of the bottle head, so as to seal the cap assembly from the bottle head, and the sealing ring is separated from the bottle body.
According to the cap assembly described above, the at least one lock portion is arranged on an inner surface of the cap side portion, and is formed by extending inwardly from the inner surface.
The present application also provides a bottle assembly, comprising the cap assembly described above and a bottle. The bottle comprises a bottle head which can be accommodated in the receiving portion. The bottle head is provided with at least one lock accommodating portion configured to cooperate with the at least one lock portion, so as to lock the cap assembly to the bottle head.
According to the bottle assembly described above, the bottle head is provided with at least one protrusion formed by extending outwardly from an outer side wall of the bottle head. A bottom of the at least one protrusion forms the at least one lock accommodating portion.
According to the bottle assembly described above, the bottle further comprises a bottle body defining a bottle body cavity. The bottle head defines a bottle head passage which is in communication with the bottle body cavity. The bottle head is provided with an exhaust passage configured to penetrate the bottle head such that the exhaust passage is in communication with the bottle head passage. The bottle assembly is configured such that during the process of the cap assembly unlocking from the bottle head, the elastic arm abuts against the top wall of the receiving portion and a top wall of the bottle head, so as to seal the cap assembly from the bottle head, and the bottle body cavity is in communication with the exhaust passage through the bottle head passage.
The cap assembly of the present application has a relatively small height, and during unlocking of the bottle assembly of the present application, gas in a bottle body cavity can be discharged from the bottle through an exhaust passage.
The features and advantages of the present application can be better understood by reading the following detailed description with reference to accompanying drawings. In all the accompanying drawings, the same reference numeral represents the same component. In the accompanying drawings:
Various specific implementations of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings which form a part of this description. It should be understood that, in the following accompanying drawings, the same reference numeral is used for the same component.
Various specific implementations of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings which form a part of this description. It should be understood that although the terms indicating directions, such as “upper”, “lower”, “left”, “right”, “inner”, “outer”, and so on are used in the present application to describe structural parts and elements in various examples of the present application, these terms are used herein only for ease of description and are determined based on the exemplary orientations as shown in the accompanying drawings. Since the embodiments disclosed in the present application can be arranged in different directions, these terms indicating directions are merely illustrative and should not be considered as limitations.
As shown in
As shown in
The cap assembly according to the first embodiment of the present application can cooperate with a corresponding bottle, so as to lock the bottle.
As shown in
As shown in
The cap assembly of the present application can move relative to the bottle, and the bottle assembly has a closed state and an exhaust state. When the lock portion 126 is accommodated in the lock accommodating portion 207, the bottle assembly is in the closed state. When the lock portion 126 is accommodated in the exhaust accommodating portion 205, the bottle assembly is in the exhaust state.
The process of locking the bottle head 200 to the cap assembly and sealing the bottle head from the cap assembly is described below with reference to
When an operator needs to lock the cap assembly to the bottle head 200 and seal the cap assembly from the bottle head, the operator can align the lock portion 126 of the cap assembly with the passage 204 on the bottle, and press the cap assembly down toward the bottle. During the process of the operator pressing the cap assembly, the elastic arm 156 is deformed. Specifically, the free end 164 of the elastic arm 156 abuts against the top wall 201 of the bottle head 200 and moves toward the top wall 172 of the receiving portion 173, such that the elastic arm 156 abuts against the top wall 201 of the bottle head 200 and the top wall 172 of the receiving portion 173. After the lock portion 126 moves downwardly over the protrusion 206, the operator may twist the cap assembly clockwise, such that the lock portion 126 moves clockwise and enters the lock accommodating portion 207. After the lock portion 126 is accommodated in the lock accommodating portion 207, the operator may release the cap assembly. Since the elastic arm 156 is in the compressed state, the elastic arm 156 applies forces in opposite directions to the cap assembly and the bottle head 200, such that the lock portion 126 is retained in the lock accommodating portion 207.
The process of unlocking the cap assembly from the bottle head 200 is described below with reference to
When the operator needs to unlock the cap assembly from the bottle head 200, the operator may twist the cap assembly counterclockwise, such that the lock portion 126 leaves the lock accommodating portion 207 and enters the exhaust accommodating portion 205. When the lock portion 126 is located in the exhaust accommodating portion 205, the bottle assembly is in the exhaust state. At this time, the elastic member 106 seals the cap 102 from the bottle head 200, and the bottle body cavity 233 is in communication with the exhaust passage 208 through the bottle head passage 203. The gas in the bottle body cavity 233 is discharged out of the bottle body cavity 233 through the exhaust passage 208. When the bottle assembly is in the exhaust state for several seconds, the operator may continue to twist the cap assembly counterclockwise, such that the lock portion 126 leaves the exhaust accommodating portion 205 and enters the passage 204 on the bottle. Finally, the operator lifts up the cap assembly, and the lock portion 126 thus exits the passage 204 to unlock the cap assembly.
It should be noted that although two lock portions 126 and two lock accommodating portions 207 are shown in the present application, which are arranged at two ends in the same diameter direction, any number of lock portions 126 is within the scope of protection of the present application, as long as the number and positions of lock accommodating portions 207 correspond to the number and positions of lock portions 126.
It should also be noted that although the protrusion 206 in the present application is further provided with an exhaust accommodating portion 205, it is possible that no exhaust accommodating portion is provided in other embodiments. Specifically, in the process of unlocking the cap assembly from the bottle head 200, the cap assembly will move away from the bottle head 200 in the axial direction of the bottle head 200, so the exhaust state of the bottle assembly can be realized during the unlocking even if no exhaust accommodating portion is provided.
In conventional cap assemblies, an inner side of the cap is provided with threads so as to cooperate with threads of the bottle to realize locking and sealing. However, the inventors of the present application have found that when the cap and the bottle body are locked to and sealed from each other via the threads, at least three turns of threads need to be screwed in. Therefore, a relatively large height is required to provide the threads. Especially in the field of vehicles, when a component (e.g., a refrigerant pot) accommodated in the vehicle front comprises the bottle assembly, the cap assembly results in a relatively high overall height of the vehicle front.
In the present application, there are no threads provided on the cap assembly, and the cap 102 is kept in place by the cooperation of the lock portion 126 with the lock accommodating portion 207 of the bottle. More specifically, the cap assembly is configured such that when the cap assembly is tightly capped on the bottle, the elastic member 106 is compressed by the force in the vertical direction, so as to apply upward and downward forces to the cap assembly and the bottle respectively, so that the lock portion 126 is retained in the lock accommodating portion 207. As an example, when the elastic arm 156 is in the release state, the overall height of the elastic member 106 is 5 mm. When the elastic arm 156 is in the compressed state, the overall height of the elastic member 106 is 2.15 mm. Since the height of the elastic member in the cap assembly of the present application is relatively small, the height of the cap assembly can be made relatively small, thereby reducing the height of the vehicle front of the vehicle.
In addition, when a low-temperature/high-temperature gas is contained in the bottle, the gas contained in the bottle may expand. The bottle assembly of the present application can realize the exhaust state during the unlocking process, and when the bottle body cavity is in communication with the exhaust passage, the elastic arm still keeps the bottle head sealed. In this way, the expanded low-temperature/high-temperature gas can be discharged out of the bottle body cavity through the exhaust passage in the exhaust state, thereby avoiding overflow through the bottle head passage during the unlocking.
Although the present application is described in conjunction with the examples of embodiments outlined above, various alternatives, modifications, variations, improvements, and/or substantial equivalents that are known or current or to be anticipated before long may be obvious to those of at least ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, the technical effects and/or technical problems described in this description are exemplary rather than limiting; therefore, the application in this description may be used to solve other technical problems and have other technical effects and/or may solve other technical problems. Accordingly, the examples of the embodiments of the present application as set forth above are intended to be illustrative rather than limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present application. Therefore, the present application is intended to embrace all known or earlier disclosed alternatives, modifications, variations, improvements, and/or substantial equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022109637185 | Aug 2022 | CN | national |
| 2023109057131 | Jul 2023 | CN | national |
