The present disclosure relates to the field of air-conditioning system valves, and in particular, to a pipe connecting assembly.
During operation of an air-conditioning system, a shut-off valve can be used to control on/off of a flow path of refrigerant. When the refrigerant flows in a pipe system, pulsation noise occurs. Therefore, a muffler needs to be installed in the pipe system to effectively reduce the pulsation noise. In related art, each of two ends of the muffler is usually welded with a connecting pipe for welding with other elements, and the shut-off valve is usually also welded with a connecting pipe for welding with other elements. The assembly formed by the muffler and the shut-off valve is fixed by means of welding the connecting pipe. The muffler is usually made of iron, the shut-off valve is usually made brass or aluminum, and the connecting pipe is usually made of copper. Accordingly, connection of different types of metals leads to serious electrochemical corrosion reaction, which affects the reliability of the entire assembly.
The present disclosure provides a pipe connecting assembly that is beneficial to the reliability of the connection between the valve body and the fitting pipe part.
The present disclosure provides a pipe connecting assembly, including a valve body, a valve stem and a fitting pipe part;
wherein the valve body includes a first valve body part and a second valve body part; the valve body includes a valve cavity, the first valve body part includes a first cavity, and the second valve body part includes a second cavity; at least a part of the valve stem is located in the valve cavity; the valve body includes a valve port; the valve stem is movable in the valve cavity to close or open the valve port, to make the first cavity be blocked from or in communication with the second cavity; and
the pipe connecting assembly further includes an adhesive layer, the adhesive layer is located between the fitting pipe part and the first valve body part, at least part area of the fitting pipe part and at least part area of the first valve body part are both in contact with the adhesive layer, in such a manner that the valve body and the fitting pipe part are bonded and fixed by the adhesive layer.
Since the pipe connecting assembly includes an adhesive layer between the fitting pipe part and the first valve body part, it is beneficial for fixing the valve body and the fitting pipe part by adhesion, so as to avoid electrochemical corrosion between the valve body and the fitting pipe part. The present disclosure can improve the connection reliability of the pipe connecting assembly.
The accompanying drawings which illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, and serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure together with the specification.
In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure more clear, the present disclosure will be described in further detail below in combination with the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely used to explain, but not to limit the present disclosure.
In related arts, the pipe connecting assembly includes a valve part and an external connecting pipe. According to common connection technology, the valve part and the external connecting pipe are connected by brazing. The valve body of the valve part can be made of brass, and the external connecting pipe is usually made of red copper. Due to the high cost of copper, the valve body is made of aluminum material according to some technologies so as to reduce costs. However, in a case where the valve body is made of aluminum, the contact and the fixing between the copper connecting pipe and the aluminum valve body by welding leads to serious electrochemical corrosion reaction of the valve part under an operation environment of the valve part, and a reliable connection between different metals, such as copper, aluminum, and the like, can not be ensured by brazing. There exists a certain risk of leakage at the welding position when operated for a long time in a humid and hot environment and in an environment where some refrigerant exists, which may affect the reliability of the valve part.
Further, the pipe connecting assembly usually includes a plastic bonnet, an elastic sealing ring installed in the valve body, etc., due to high welding temperature, the welding seam and welding heat effect may weaken the performance and the strength of the elastic sealing ring, the plastic bonnet and other structural members, which reduces the sealing performance.
In some related arts, the pipe connecting assembly includes a shut-off valve and a muffler. Each of the muffler and the shut-off valve is welded with a connecting pipe, and another connecting pipe needs to be welded between the connecting pipe of the muffler and the connecting pipe of the shut-off valve to connect the two components. As a result, the air-conditioning system has quite many welding points, and the processing procedure thereof is complicated. In order to reduce the number of the welding points, if the connecting pipe of the muffler is cancelled, and the connecting pipe of the shut-off valve is welded directly to the muffler, since the muffler is usually made of iron, and the connecting pipe is usually made of copper, these two are different metals. In order to reduce corrosion of iron, it needs to perform high-temperature spray on a surface of the muffler and at the position to which the connecting pipe is connected, to add a corrosion-resistant protective coating layer. The high temperature of the spraying process may affect the sealing effect of the sealing element(s) in the shut-off valve. However, if the connecting pipe of the shut-off valve is cancelled, and the connecting pipe of the muffler is welded directly to the shut-off valve, since the shut-off valve needs to be cleaned with brazing flux after being welded to the connecting pipe, while an inner wall of the muffler cannot be exposed to water which leads to a risk of corrosion, there are quite many problems for the welding connection ways in the related art.
As shown in
The valve body 20 includes a first valve body part 21 and a second valve body part 22. The valve body 20 includes a valve cavity 201. The first valve body part 21 includes a first cavity 210, and the second valve body part 22 includes a second cavity 220. Each of the first cavity 210 and the second cavity 220 is part of the valve cavity 201. At least part of the valve stem 30 is located in valve cavity 201. The valve body 20 includes a valve port 202. The valve stem 30 is movable within the valve cavity 201 to close or open the valve port 202, so that the first cavity 210 is blocked from or in communication with the second cavity 220. In some embodiments, the valve body 20 and the valve stem 30 can have functions related to a shut-off valve, and the shut-off valve can be connected to the indoor unit and the outdoor unit in the air-conditioning system to control on/off of a flow path of the refrigerant. The valve stem 30 may be provided with an external thread, and a wall surface of the valve body 20 that forms the valve cavity 201 may be provided with an internal thread matched with the external thread. Accordingly, the valve stem 30 can make reciprocating movement in the valve cavity 201 under the action of the thread pair to approach or move away from the valve port 202, so that the first cavity 210 is blocked from or in communication with the second cavity 220. In order to ensure the sealing between the valve stem 30 and the valve body 20, a soft sealing member such as an elastic sealing ring may further be provided between the valve stem 30 and the valve body 20, and a bonnet that can be matched with the valve body 20 by thread may be provided. A metal hard seal can be formed between the bonnet and the valve body 20, thereby further ensuring the sealing performance of the shut-off valve.
Each of the first valve body part 21 and the second valve body part 22 may have a central axis, and the two central axes may be coincident with, parallel to or perpendicular to each other, or have a certain angle. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in
The valve body 20 may further include a filling structure to facilitate filling the system with refrigerant, such as a right-side part of the valve body shown in
The fitting pipe part 40 may be a common pipe for communicating with the outside, or a functional pipe for muffling. The functional pipe for muffling is taken as an example of the fitting pipe part. As shown in
The first pipe part 42 further includes a first connecting pipe part 421 connected to the necked pipe part 440 of the first pipe part 42. The pipe connecting assembly 10 further includes an adhesive layer 50 located between the first connecting pipe part 421 and the first valve body part 21. At least part area of the first connecting pipe part 421 and at least part area of the first valve body part 21 are both in contact with the adhesive layer 50, so that the valve body 20 and the fitting pipe part 40 are fixed by bonding. The connection manner by bonding is beneficial to reducing the number of welding positions between the first connecting pipe part 421 and the first valve body part 21. The first connecting pipe part 421 and the necked pipe part 440 may be integrally formed. Alternatively, a part of a pipe structure of the first connecting pipe part 421 and the necked pipe part 440 may be integrally formed.
The second pipe part 43 further includes a second connecting pipe part 425 connected to the necked pipe part 440 of the second pipe part 43. As shown in
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first connecting pipe part 421 includes a first sub-pipe part 422 and a second sub-pipe part 423. The second sub-pipe part 423 and the necked pipe part 440 are fixed by welding or bonding. The first sub-pipe part 422 is located at a side of the second sub-pipe part 423 away from the second pipe part 43. In an example, the second sub-pipe part 423 is located in the cavity of the necked pipe part 440, and the second sub-pipe part 423 and the necked pipe part 440 form a casing structure. In this way, the processing difficulty of the fitting pipe part 40 can be simplified, and the complexity of manufacturing and processing can be reduced by splicing multiple sections of pipe parts.
As shown in
The first valve body part 21 includes a first connection-fitting part 23 and a first step-fitting part 24. The first connection-fitting part 23 includes a first channel 231. The first channel 231 is a part of the first cavity 210. At a least part of the first sub-pipe part 422 is located at the first channel 231. According to the embodiment shown in
The first sub-pipe part 422 includes an inner surface 4221 and an outer peripheral surface 4222 that circumferentially surround the pipe cavity of the first sub-pipe part 422. At least part area of the outer peripheral surface 4222 of the first sub-pipe part 422 is in contact with the adhesive layer 50. The first connection-fitting part 23 includes an annular inner wall surface 232 for forming the first channel 231. At least part area of the annular inner wall surface 232 is in contact with the adhesive layer 50. There is a gap for accommodating the adhesive layer 50 between the outer peripheral surface 4222 of the first sub-pipe part 422 and the annular inner wall surface 232 of the first connection-fitting part 23. When gluing, the adhesive/glue can be coated on the outer peripheral surface 4222 at the end of the first sub-pipe part 422, or the annular inner wall surface 232 of the first connection-fitting part 23, or both the outer peripheral surface 4222 at the end of the first sub-pipe part 422 and the annular inner wall surface 232 of the first connection-fitting part 23. The coated adhesive/glue is cured to form the adhesive layer 50 finally.
The first step-fitting part 24 is protruded toward the first cavity 210 further than the first connection-fitting part 23. The blocking surface 211 is located at the first step-fitting part 24 and connected to the annular inner wall surface 232. For the first step-fitting part 24, in addition to limiting the first sub-pipe part 422, the blocking surface 211 can also prevent the adhesive/glue from overflowing to enter other parts of the first cavity 210. In this way, the stability of the product can be improved, and the adhesive/glue does not easily enter the space for fluid flow in the first cavity 210. Therefore, the fluid is not easily contaminated, and precision control of other components/parts of the system is not easily influenced.
The first step-fitting part 24 further includes a second channel 241. The first channel 231 and the second channel 241 together form the first cavity 210. A channel opening at a side of the second channel 241 away from the first channel 231 forms the valve port 202. The valve stem 30 can move relative to the valve port 202 along an axis direction of the second channel 241. When the valve stem 30 opens the valve port 202, the pipe cavity of the first sub-pipe part 422 is in communication with the second cavity 220 via the second channel 241.
As shown in an enlarged schematic diagram shown in
As shown in
In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the first sub-pipe part 422 includes a first sub-cavity 4223 extending through the pipe body thereof. The first valve body part 21 includes a tubular fitting part 25. The tubular fitting part 25 includes a third channel 251. The third channel 251 is at least a part of the first cavity 210. The valve body may further be provided with a second step-fitting part to fit with the tubular fitting part 25, or the first sub-pipe part 422 can be position-limited by a surface structure of the valve body.
As shown in
In order to prevent the adhesive/glue from overflowing to enter the space of the first sub-cavity 4223 of the first sub-pipe part 422 and the third channel 251 for fluid flow. The tubular fitting part 25 may be provided with an accommodating groove 254. The accommodating groove 254 opens toward the inner surface 4221 of the first sub-pipe part 422. At least a part of the adhesive layer 50 is located at the accommodating groove 254. The accommodating groove 254 may have an opening only at the top. The first sub-pipe part 422 blocks the opening of the accommodating groove 254. In order to ensure the thickness of adhesive/glue, a depth of the accommodating groove 254 is within a range from 0.05mm to 1mm. In some embodiments, the depth of the accommodating groove 254 is within a range from 0.15mm to 0.35mm. In other words, the depth of the accommodating groove 254 ensures that the thickness of the adhesive/glue meets the gluing requirements. Adhesive/glue is protected from overflowing by the first sub-pipe part 422 through the side wall connected to the groove bottom of the accommodating groove 254, so that the adhesive/glue does not easily leak to the space of the third channel 251 for fluid flow. The length of the accommodating groove 254 along the axis direction of the third channel 251 is within a range from 1mm to 10 mm, which is beneficial to ensuring the gluing area, and thus ensuring the strength of the connection between different components/parts. In some embodiments, the length of the accommodating groove 254 along the axis direction of the third channel 251 may be within a range from 2.5mm to 5mm. A material of the adhesive layer 50 is a high-strength epoxy-based two-component structural adhesive or a high-strength epoxy-based single-component structural adhesive.
As shown in
In addition to the fixing manner in which the first connecting pipe part 421 and the first valve body part 21 are fixed by bonding through the adhesive layer 50 in the central axis direction of the first valve body part 21, in some other embodiments of the present disclosure, the first sub-pipe part 422 may include a first sub-cavity 4223 extending through the pipe body thereof, the first valve body part 21 may include a tubular fitting part 25 including a third channel 251, the third channel 251 is at least a part of the first cavity 210, the third channel 251 is in communication with the first sub-cavity 4223, and as shown in
In other embodiments, as shown in
The first sub-pipe part 422 may be made of a material including one or more of iron, copper alloy, and aluminum alloy. The first sub-pipe part 422 may also be made of non-metal. In this way, when the material of the valve body 20 is different from that of the pipe body part, which is for example the main body 41 for realizing the noise reduction function, the difficulty of welding different types of metal materials and electrochemical corrosion caused by welding different types of metal materials can be reduced.
In addition, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first sub-pipe part 422 may be a complete connecting pipe extending as a whole, which reduces the number of components/parts of the connecting pipe when connecting the shut-off valve and the muffler in the related art, and thus facilitating integrated design. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the length of the first sub-pipe part 422 may be reduced or the first sub-pipe part 422 may even be eliminated, so as to reduce a distance between the necked pipe part 440 of the muffler and the valve body 20 of the shut-off valve, thereby reducing a space occupied by the system. The first connecting pipe part 421 and the first valve body part 21 are fixed by using the adhesive layer 50, so as to reduce the number of welding positions of the entire air-conditioning system, and thus simplifying the welding process. The connection parts are sealed by using the adhesive layer 50, which brings the advantages of simple manufacturing and good sealing effect, and reduces a risk of electrochemical corrosion caused by different types of metals. The first connecting pipe part 421 and the first valve body part 21 of the pipe connecting assembly can be fixedly connected by reserving certain curing time after gluing, which significantly reduces the brazing positions and processes of an original brazing process, and thus is beneficial to improving the production efficiency of products, reducing the number of connecting pipes and saving the cost.
The above descriptions are merely some preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. For those skilled in the art, the present disclosure may have various modifications and variations. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within a concept of the present disclosure shall fall into a scope of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202010720203.3 | Jul 2020 | CN | national |
The present application is a continuation of PCT Application No. PCT/CN2021/100629, filed on Jun. 17, 2021, entitled “Pipe Connection Assembly”, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202010720203.3, filed on Jul. 23, 2020, entitled “valve assembly”, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2021/100629 | Jun 2021 | US |
| Child | 18095969 | US |