The invention relates to a method for producing a tubular hollow body with at least three pipe openings, partly or completely consisting of plastics material.
It is known for tubular hollow bodies that are formed as forked pipes and are in each case of an approximately Y shape to be put together from two prefabricated half shells. It is also known in the production of a tubular hollow body for all the cavities to be formed by prefabricated pipe parts, then the pipe parts to be put together and the entire assembly encapsulated with plastics material. In this regard, see for example, EP 0 333 086 A3 and U.S. Ser. No. 3,425,456.
The invention is based on the object of providing a method for producing a tubular hollow body that requires little effort and preparation and nevertheless makes it possible to produce hollow bodies of high precision and great strength.
For this purpose, it is provided according to the invention to produce a lost core pipe, which has a connection opening at each of its ends and has at least one docking opening along its length, the core pipe being introduced into a cavity of a mould and two non-lost core pieces being arranged with one of their ends respectively against the connection openings in a sealing manner and a non-lost core part being arranged with one end against the docking opening in a sealing manner, plastics material then being introduced into the mould cavity to encapsulate the core pipe, the core pieces and the pipe part and, once the plastics material has cured, the core pieces and the core part are withdrawn from the hollow body created. Accordingly, all that is required for the production of the tubular hollow body is for the lost core pipe to be produced in advance. After that, the core pieces that subsequently form cavities in the component encapsulated with plastics material that communicate with the space inside the core pipe are arranged at the ends of said core pipe. The same applies correspondingly to the non-lost core part, which is arranged against the docking opening in a sealing manner, so that here too a communicating connection with the space inside the core pipe is created after the core part is withdrawn. The arrangement of the parts preferably takes place in such a way that the longitudinal extends of the two core pieces and the core part run transversely, in particular perpendicularly, in relation to the longitudinal extent of the core pipe, so that the hollow body is given the form of a forked pipe. If more than one docking opening is provided, each docking opening is assigned a core part and in this way a hollow body that is shaped in a form differing from a Y shape is formed.
According to a development of the invention, it is provided that, after the core pipe, the core pieces and the core part have been introduced, the mould is closed. “Introduced” is also to be understood as meaning that the core pieces and the core part are not inserted in the mould but are pushed into the mould cavity—because they are displaceable elements of the mould. All the elements mentioned are accordingly introduced into the open mould and the mould is subsequently closed. After that, the encapsulation with plastics material can take place. Once the plastics material has cured, the core pieces and the core part can be withdrawn from the moulding. The mould is subsequently opened.
According to a development of the invention, it is provided that a mould which has the core pieces and the core part as displaceable elements is used. Alternatively, it would be possible for the core pieces and the core part not to be component parts of the mould but to be inserted in it.
The invention also relates to a tubular hollow body, which is formed in particular as a forked pipe, preferably produced by the method mentioned above, with a manifold pipe, from each of the ends of which there extends a branch pipe, and with a connection pipe, which extends from the manifold pipe—seen along the length thereof—, the manifold pipe being a core pipe which is at least partly embedded in plastics material cured after being supplied and the branch pipes and/or the connection pipe being formed from the supplied plastics material. In the case of the hollow body according to the invention, the manifold pipe or core pipe at least partly embedded in the cured plastics material is accordingly a prefabricated pipe. The branch pipes and/or the connection pipe are subsequently produced by the plastics injection-moulding technique and thereby connected in a communicating manner to the prefabricated manifold pipe.
According to a development of the invention, it is provided that the manifold pipe runs transversely, in particular at right angles, in relation to the branch pipes and/or to the connection pipe.
Furthermore, it is advantageous if the branch pipes and/or if the connection pipe are/is formed by core pieces withdrawn from the plastics material or by a core part withdrawn from the plastics material. The core pieces or the core part may be solid material parts, in particular steel parts. They do not have to be of a tubular shape, because they are encapsulated with plastics material, whereby pipe parts of the tubular hollow body are created.
Finally, it is advantageous if the hollow body is formed as a plastics injection-moulded part with the manifold pipe as an insert part.
The drawings illustrate the invention on the basis of an exemplary embodiment, to be precise:
In order to produce such a tubular hollow body 1, the following procedure—according to FIGS. 2 to 5—is adopted. First of all, in a first production step, the manifold pipe 2 according to
When the tubular hollow body 1 according to
Then, the mould which contains the arrangement according to
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
09003362 | Mar 2009 | EP | regional |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
587902 | Wilson | Aug 1897 | A |
2449754 | Seitz | Sep 1948 | A |
3425456 | Schibig | Feb 1969 | A |
3588920 | Wesolowski | Jun 1971 | A |
4467002 | Crofts | Aug 1984 | A |
4557261 | Ru/ gheimer | Dec 1985 | A |
4830060 | Botsolas | May 1989 | A |
4992626 | Monroe | Feb 1991 | A |
5250041 | Folden et al. | Oct 1993 | A |
5627159 | Shih et al. | May 1997 | A |
5672159 | Warrick | Sep 1997 | A |
5857715 | Gray et al. | Jan 1999 | A |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
0333086 | Sep 1989 | EP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20100227096 A1 | Sep 2010 | US |