Patent Application
20220178480
The present invention pertains to disconnecting of fittings for connecting water pipes. For example, the present invention pertains to a device integrated into valves for disconnecting domestic valves installed over pipes, which are fixed to and extending out of walls.
Valves and other fittings for installation in households are designed with a bore to couple with a pipe or tube that extends out of a wall and connects them to either another pipe, to the local water piping system or to an end-product as a toilet or dishwasher. The water flow is confined to the volume of the pipe and valve until reaching the valve exit. In certain practices, the pipe is smooth and simply introduced into the bore within the valve or fitting. This, however, requires that the valve firmly holds the pipe within it to prevent movement of the pipe and water leakage due to the internal pressure of water in the pipe.
A commonly used solution for fixing the pipe within the inner space of the valve and preventing leakage is a gripper ring. The gripper ring is essentially a ring with sharp teeth that extend longitudinally in inclined inward position relative to the ring. The pipe passes through the gripper ring until stopped by a step inside the fitting body, and the gripper ring teeth that hold to it without letting it retract or move from its place. O-rings are located inside a cavity in the fitting body and intended to seal the gap between the pipe and the body to prevent water leakage. But the gripper ring creates a problem when disconnecting the valve or fitting from the pipe, since its contact with the pipe is based on a relatively strong friction force in the longitudinal direction of the pipe. Therefore, a disconnection of the valve/fitting off of the pipe requires application of a significant force to push the gripper ring teeth even more, to overcome the friction force, thus allowing the pipe to be extracted.
Various solutions are provided to reduce the required force required to extract the pipe. Many of these solutions are provided by Accor Technology Inc. and described in the following patents and patent applications: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,464,266, 6,880,523, 7,232,159, 7,523,966, 7,810,850, US 2015/0076816 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,820,799. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,820,799 describes a valve with more than one gripper ring and a spacer bushing with circumferentially spaced axial grooves in its inner side. The gripper ring teeth fit to the grooves of the bushing and are twisted against the walls of the grooves so that when a radial movement is done to disconnect the valve from the pipe, the teeth press against the walls of the grooves and so are lifted and detach from the pipe. This enables to release the valve off of the pipe by application of a screw-like action between the pipe and the valve, thus screwing the pipe out of the gripper ring teeth. This method has a disadvantage of creating external damage to the pipe by the gripper ring teeth, not enabling to re-install the pipe into another valve or fitting without repairing the pipe surface or cutting the damaged part of the pipe. In other prior arts, a pressure-ring is introduced in the fitting, which is intended to be pressed manually by the user by applying axial force on a sleeve in order to release the pipe. This solution required high pressure forces, and generally requires special tools to perform this pressing action due to the high required force. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved solution for releasing a valve or fitting off of a pipe in domestic or other applications, where such valve or fitting uses a gripper ring for holding to a water pipe extension.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a valve or fitting with gripper ring and an integral or modular component for releasing the gripper ring hold of the valve/fitting to an extension of a water pipe inserted in it.
The present invention pertains to a releasing device for disconnecting a fitting body off of a pipe that comprises:
one or more spiral tracks;
at least one bump/ball;
a nut; and
a pushing sleeve with a conical tapered shape,
wherein coupling of the bump(s)/ball(s) with the spiral track(s) enables radial movement of the nut in a defined spiral forward direction over the fitting body and pushing of the pushing sleeve into the fitting body for releasing a pipe held inside off of a gripper ring that holds the pipe in fixed position inside the fitting body.
In one particular embodiment, the diameter of the nut is larger than the diameter of the fitting body and the nut overlaps the fitting body. In another particular embodiment, the bump(s)/ball(s) are located on the inner wall of the nut and the spiral track(s) are located on the outer wall of the fitting body. In still another embodiment, the bump(s)/ball(s) are located on the outer wall of fitting body and the spiral track(s) are located on the inner wall of the nut.
In one embodiment, diameter of the fitting body is larger than the diameter of the nut. In still another embodiment, the bump(s)/ball(s) are located on the outer wall of the nut and the spiral track(s) are located on the inner wall of the fitting body. In still another embodiment, the bump(s)/ball(s) are located on the inner wall of the fitting body and the spiral track(s) are located on the outer wall of the nut.
In one particular embodiment, the fitting body is a valve. Further, the bump(s) may be of any suitable shape that enables their smooth movement inside the spiral track(s). Particularly, the bump(s) may be rectangular or round.
In one embodiment, the nut and pushing sleeve form an integrated releasing device. In another particular embodiment, the nut and pushing sleeve form a modular releasing device.
In one aspect, the present invention provides an assembly for disconnecting a fitting body water piping off of a pipe, where the assembly comprises:
a releasing device as described and illustrated in the present application;
a fitting body;
at least one bump(s)/ball(s) located on a nut of the releasing device or the fitting body;
at least one spiral track(s) located on the fitting body or on the nut in correspondence with the location of the bump(s)/ball(s), where the bump(s)/ball(s) are configured to couple with each other to enable spiral downward movement of the releasing device over or in the fitting body;
a conical ring for holding a gripper ring in fixed position;
a gripper ring for locking the pipe in fixed position within the fitting body, the gripper ring comprising teeth extending radially in inclined angle towards the center of the gripper ring and frictionally holding the pipe in its fixed position;
a locking ring for accommodating the pushing sleeve, locking all parts of the assembly in fixed position; and
a sealing ring for sealing a gap between the receiving end of the pipe and the conical ring
The main disadvantage of current solutions for disconnecting a valve from a water pipe is the application of significant force that a user should apply to detach the gripper teeth off of the pipe surface. Such force is oriented longitudinally relative to the pipe main axis, but has to move the teeth essentially radially relative to this axis. The releasing device of the present invention overcomes this difficulty by providing a screw mechanism that reduces the force that a user has to apply on the one hand, and increases the applied stress on the gripper ring on the other hand.
The cross-section views in
Locking Ring 115 is held-on very firmly to the valve body 140 by mechanical means or by welding or by glue. The conical ring prevents the gripper ring from extracting out of the valve body during the dismantling process or during removal of the valve from the pipe. The conical ring prevents excessive axial movement of the gripper ring, but allows free rotation of the gripper ring to allow the pipe to be freely rotated after installation.
Conical ring 125 is sloped with an inner slope that is steeper relative to the slope of the teeth 122 of the gripper ring. This difference in slopes allows the teeth to bend outwards when pressed through the conical ring 125 as a result of the pressure that the pushing sleeve applies on them.
The pushing sleeve 110 has a conical shape with circumference at its lower edge that fits the diameter of the gripper ring. As it is pushed down by the force applied by the nut, its gradually increasing diameter towards its upper edge pushes the teeth 122 of the gripper ring 120 outwards relative to the surface of a pipe, which is held in the valve. This displacement of the teeth results from the downward axial or combined axial and radial movements of the pushing sleeve and its conical shape that forces them away from the pipe. As the pipe is released from gripper ring teeth, the valve is released and can be pulled away from the pipe.
The particular application of the screw threading principle to push the gripper ring of a valve, which is installed on pipes of a domestic water piping systems, requires accurate dimensions of all the participating components and exact matching between the different parts of the releasing device and the parts of the valve. The location of the bump/ball on the inner wall of the nut of the releasing device is also important, in addition to the required accuracy of match between the dimensions of the bump/ball and the spiral track on the receiving end of the valve housing. This location is essential to ensure that the bump/ball is actually introduced into the spiral track within a defined turn of the nut over the receiving head of the valve or any other fitting body. For example, a quarter of 360 degrees turn of the nut is usually needed to effect sufficient stress on the gripper ring and consequently its teeth for separating them from the pipe's surface. Thus, a design of location and dimensions of the bump/ball in the nut that matches the design and dimensions of the valve or fitting body receiving end and the gripper ring, locking ring between it and the nut and conical ring 125 between it and seal or O-ring 130. The conical ring itself provides a base for accommodating and fixing the gripper ring in place.
As mentioned above, the ball/bump may make a quarter of a turn in the spiral track for disengaging the gripper ring teeth off of the water pipe. The user is required to apply only minimal work to turn the nut and make the ball/bump travel down the spiral track at the receiving end of the fitting body and push the nut into the inner space of the gripper ring. The force that the nut applies relays the stress to the gripper ring teeth by direct contact with the pushing sleeve conical surface, as the pushing sleeve travels down axially or in combined axial and radial movement depending on the configuration of the nut and pushing sleeve. The increasing diameter of the pushing sleeve from its proximal end to distal end generates friction between the sleeve and the teeth and forces them apart from the pipe surface. The particular assembly of the nut, ball/bump and pushing sleeve requires that the sleeve 110 be located within the nut with a gap between its outer surface and the inner surface of the nut. In one particular embodiment, the nut and the pushing sleeve are two separate parts as shown in
The valve or fitting body and releasing device, namely nut and pushing sleeve, further comprise other components, which may be common, standard or customized, but should all be configured to maintain the functionality of the releasing device and structural and functional match between this device, the spiral track(s) of the valve/fitting body housing and gripper ring. Particularly, the valve comprises a handle 160 with a flat disc 162 and trimmed conical hollow knob 163. The handle accommodates a piston 150 with a base 153 that fits the space of the hollow knob. The piston has an upper pointed head 152 that introduces into the valve housing 140 and reaches beyond the upper opening of nozzle 142. When the handle is pulled backwards from the housing, the piston is retracted from the housing and blocks the water path from the housing to the nozzle. When pushed into the housing, the piston unblocks the water path from the housing to the nozzle outlet. O-rings 155 and 145 are made from elastic material for sealing the gaps between the piston and housing from leakage of water.
In the particular example illustrated in the drawings, the housing 140 is in the shape of a cone having the wider aperture at the interface with the releasing device and narrows towards the nozzle outlet. The part 144 closer to the wider aperture is ribbed. Above the ribbed part there is the receiving end 135 of the housing with the spiral track(s) 142c which is carved at its outer wall.
O-ring 130 water-seals the engagement area between the receiving end of the housing and the conical ring 125 and the pipe. Locking ring 115 fits on top of the gripper ring 120 and is mechanically secured to the housing by means of welding or screwing or any other method. Locking ring 115 is used to hold the assembly of rings including the gripper ring in fixed axial position. The gripper ring, however, is free to rotate together with rotation of a pipe, which is inserted and held inside the valve.
In this particular example, the pushing sleeve 175 is parallel to pushing sleeve 110 in the previously presented example. The conical ring 125a hosts the gripper ring 120, and the sealing ring 135a seals the gap between the conical ring 125a and element 153a that presses against locking ring 170 and ensures that it is secured to the fitting body 135 with the snap-slot coupling.
In another embodiment, the corresponding snaps 171 and slots 172 switch locations between them, so that the slots are made in the surface of the locking ring 170 and the snaps protrude out of the outer surface of the receiving end 135. The locking is remained the same. In one example, the number of snaps and corresponding slots is four for each. The slots may go through from the inner to the outer surfaces of the wall of the receiving end or non-through to lock the snaps. Handle 162a turns to one direction to block water path from the pipe to the nozzle (see in
Fixing the gripper ring in place and preventing axial movement is essential for proper operation of the releasing device. The two types of locking rings discussed above apply mechanical means to ensure this, but other means are also encompassed within the scope of the releasing device in the present application. Such means may apply welding of the receiving end or gluing it to the valve. In one example, the receiving end is welded to the valve in an ultrasonic process.
