Patent Application
20110233929
The present invention relates generally to flanges and more particularly to flanges for connecting plumbing and heating components.
Flanges are well known structures used to provide mating surfaces on plumbing and heating components for interconnection there-between. Typical flanges include surfaces which fit against similar mating surfaces on other components to provide a fluid seal in the connection. Flanges also typically include mounting portions that provide for fasteners such as holes for accepting studs or bolts which are used to securely connect the flange to a mating flange or mating surface.
Typical plumbing and heating components such as pipes and valves are provided with a flange that is fixedly formed with portions of the component body or main structure. For example, a typical heating system valve may include a flange portion that is monolithically formed with the valve body. Such fixedly formed flange portions can make mounting in certain orientations or positions difficult or impossible due to interferences with other fixedly mounted apparatuses and structures.
Simple collar type mounting structures are not suitable to provide a rotatable flange in most plumbing and heating components because any such collar structure generally needs to be mounted from the back side of the plumbing or heating component. Collars that are large enough to be installed to a plumbing or heating component from the front side, e.g. over the mating surface, can not be used to retain an interconnection between mating surfaces because they would not provide the necessary overlap with the mating surface to retain it. Such simple collars can not be used for mounting components that include structural elements which interfere with installation of a collar from the back side. Accordingly, partial collars or keyed collars with a partial overlapping surface have been used to provide a rotatable mounting structure around a flange if they are to be installed from the front, i.e., mating surface side, of a component. However such partial collars, two piece bifurcated collars, and slotted collars are problematic, for example, because they may not provide mounting integrity in all orientations, they may easily fall off an associated plumbing or heating component during shipping or handling, and they may be difficult to hold in place during mounting of the component.
Illustrative embodiments of the present invention provide a rotatable flange that can be installed over the front-mating surface of a plumbing or heating component, that provide mounting integrity through 360 degrees of rotation, and that can not fall off the component over the front surface after installation.
The rotatable flange apparatus includes a flange portion, a rotatable mounting plate and a retaining ring. The retaining ring fits inside grooves on the outer edge of the flange portion and on the inner edge of the mounting plate to keep the mounting plate attached to the flange portion. The flange portion can be easily assembled to the rotatable mounting plate and can be removed from the rotatable mounting plate in only one direction. The retaining ring is compressed slightly by the flange portion as the rotatable mounting plate is installed to the flange portion over its front side and snaps back out into the mounting plate groove to complete the assembly and retain the mounting plate to the flange portion.
In some embodiments the rotatable flange apparatus may be integrally or monolithically formed with a plumbing component. In one embodiment the rotatable flange apparatus may be integrally formed with a body portion of a Y-strainer. Thus, allowing the Y-strainer to be interconnected to another component via the rotatable flange apparatus, and for the Y-strainer to be oriented at virtually any angle in a 360 degree rotation.
The invention is illustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawings which are meant to be exemplary and not limiting, in which like references are intended to refer to like or corresponding parts, and in which:
A rotatable flange apparatus according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention is described with reference to the perspective view shown in
A cross sectional view of the flange portion according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention is described with reference to
In the illustrative embodiment of
In the illustrative embodiment, the retaining ring has an inside diameter 306 less than a diameter 208 of the face portion 200. In the illustrative embodiment, the retaining ring has an outside diameter 308 greater than the diameter 208 of the face portion 200.
The rotatable mounting plate 104 in the illustrative embodiment is illustrated in a cross sectional view in
The stop 410 prevents the face portion 108 (
Illustratively, the hole 402 can have a lead-in chamfer 416 extending on a front surface of the mounting plate 104 to the first diameter 404 of the hole. The chamfer 416 illustratively has a diameter 418 at the front surface 420 greater than the outside diameter 308 (
In the illustrative embodiment, the rotatable mounting plate 104 includes at least one fastener hole 422 extending there-through. A rotatable mounting plate 104 according to an illustrative embodiment may alternatively or additionally include at least one fastener stud or other fastener element extending therefrom (not shown) for mating with a corresponding mounting fastener in a plumbing interface, for example.
In illustrative embodiments of the invention, the retaining ring 300 (
A method for forming a plumbing interface with a rotatable flange according to an illustrative embodiment of the invention is described with reference to
The illustrative method for forming a plumbing interface according to the present invention may also include the steps of aligning mounting elements, such as holes and or studs, for example, in the mounting plate with corresponding mounting elements in a plumbing interface and rotating the flange portion to a selected orientation. A face of the flange portion is then located against a mating face of the plumbing interface. Fasteners are installed to the mounting elements to secure the mounting plate to the plumbing interface so that the mounting plate retains the flange portion against the plumbing interface.
The rotatable flange portion may be assembled with or monolithically formed with other plumbing components. For example, in an illustrative embodiment, at least one valve body (not shown) is in communication with a neck portion and monolithically formed with the neck portion. The valve body may include portions preventing the rotatable mounting plate from fitting over the valve body, thereby requiring assembly of the rotatable mounting plate over the face portion.
A rotatable flange apparatus integrally or monolithically formed with a plumbing component is described with reference to
In the illustrative embodiment of
The angular branch 610 may be positioned at an acute angle θ from the linear plane of the fluid flow outlet 608, resembling a “Y” shape. The angular branch 610 includes the purge or strainer outlet 612 which is in fluid communication with the fluid flow path between the fluid flow inlet 606 and outlet 608. The angular branch 610 includes a screen 614 within the fluid flow path that connects the purge or strainer outlet 612 to the flow path between the fluid flow inlet 606 and outlet 608. A portion of the screen 614 is positioned directly in the flow path connecting the fluid flow inlet 606 and outlet 608. Thus, fluid enters the Y-strainer 600 at the fluid flow inlet 606 and flows through the interior of the screen 614 to the exterior of the screen 614 and exits through the fluid flow outlet 608. The screen 614 acts to filter particulates, dirt, and other unwanted material out of the fluid stream and retain the particulates, dirt, and other unwanted material on the interior of the screen 614. The screen 614 may be a mesh wire screen, or other mesh material capable of filtering out the particulates, dirt, and other unwanted material. The screen 614 may be any of various shapes including but not limited to cylindrical, rectangular, circular, square, and the like. The screen 614 may cylindrical in shape and has an inner diameter and outer diameter. The screen 614 may have openings having a size of about 0.001 inches to 1 inch. In one embodiment, for example, the screen 614 may have openings of about 0.001 inches to 0.1 inches.
To prevent the fluid stream from exiting the purge or strainer outlet 612 of the angular branch 610, a cover 616 and/or a plug 618 may be threaded onto the purge 612. The cover 616 may have a threaded aperture having an inner diameter less than the outer diameter of the screen 614, to prevent the screen from being removed through the threaded aperture. The plug 618 may be threaded into the threaded aperture of the cover 616. Thus, to purge the screen 614 of particulates, dirt, and other unwanted material the plug 618 may be removed and the screen may be purged while preventing the screen from being removed. The screen 614 may be also removed and replaced or cleaned separately by removing the cover 616. Alternatively, a blow-off valve, such as a ball valve, gate valve, globe valve, and the like may be threaded onto or integrated into the purge 612 for purging the screen of particulates, dirt, and other unwanted material. Additionally, a gasket 620 may be placed in between the cover 616 and the outlet of the angular branch 610 to provide a fluid impermeable seal. The gasket 620 may be any of various types of gasket such as but not limited to an o-ring, fiber washer, paper gasket, or the like. The gasket 620 may be made from any material such as but not limited to a paper, rubber, silicone, metal, cork, felt, neoprene, nitrile rubber, fiberglass, a plastic polymer, and the like.
As shown in
The rotatable flange portion 622 includes a flange portion 604, a rotatable mounting plate 624, a retaining ring 626, and at least one fastener hole 422 (as shown in
The rotatable mounting plate 624 is disposed on the body portion 602 capable of being placed in communication with the flange portion 604. The rotatable mounting plate 624 includes a hole 634 for accepting and retaining the face portion 628 of the flange portion 604. The hole 634 may be the hole 402 as shown and described above in accordance with
Although the various embodiments of the invention are described herein in terms of a plumbing interface, it should be understood by persons having ordinary skill in the art that the present invention includes virtually any type of fluid system interface, such as heating system interfaces, cooling system interfaces, exhaust system interfaces, gas transfer interfaces and the like.
Further, it should be appreciated that although the flange portion embodiments described herein are described as including a fluid flow path, the flange portion could be used as an interconnect wherein the path is not for fluid flow but instead is a passage such as for wire, cable conduct or the like.
While the invention has been described and illustrated in connection with preferred embodiments, many variations and modifications will be evident to those skilled in the art and may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The invention is thus not to be limited to the precise details of methodology or construction set forth above as such variations and modification are intended to be included within the scope of the invention.
This application is a continuation in part (CIP) of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/749,020, filed on Mar. 29, 2010, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 12749020 | Mar 2010 | US |
| Child | 12851957 | US |
