Patent Application
20190024809
The following description relates to seals and, more specifically, to a conical seal with a fluid regulating device.
Fluid regulating devices, such as orifices and check valves, are commonly incorporated into fluid systems to provide for required functionality. Once a system has gone into production, however, changes to these fluid regulating devices may require extensive changes to surrounding hardware. Such extensive changes can be time consuming and expensive.
For example, a male outlet may be provided on a housing and may be designed to permit a certain fluid flow magnitude out of the housing. However, if the housing is subsequently put into place and operated it may be discovered that the fluid flow leaving the male outlet needs to be drastically reduced. In such cases, if it were also discovered that a redesign of the male housing in order to achieve the reduction in fluid flow would also require a redesigning of the entire housing, the process of redesigning both the male outlet and the overall housing could be greatly time consuming and expensive.
According to an aspect of the disclosure, a seal housing with fluid regulating capability is provided for use with an outlet. The seal housing includes a seal element, a fitting and a valve. The seal element includes an angled flange that is finable to the outlet and a seal element body from which the angled flange extends. The seal element body defines a bore extending between opposite open ends of the body and receptive of fluid from the outlet. The fitting is configured to tightly engage with the outlet and to urge the angled flange against the outlet with increasing pressure as fitting-outlet engagement proceeds. A valve is constrained within the bore and configured to regulate a flow of the fluid, which is received from the outlet, through the bore.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the angled flange is conical.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the seal element body includes an aft end which is insertible into the outlet, a forward end and a central portion interposed between the aft and forward ends and from which the angled flange extends about the aft end.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the fitting includes internal threading which is engageable with external threading of the outlet.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the fitting includes an annular body which is freely rotatable about the seal element body and includes a surface which is abuttable with the angled flange.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the valve includes a check valve.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the valve includes a valve body affixed to an interior facing surface of the seal element body and including a valve seat and a piston which is anchored to the valve body and elastically biased toward the valve seat.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, a spring anchors the piston to the valve body and is configured to elastically bias the piston toward the valve seat.
According to another aspect of the disclosure, a seal is provided for use with a male outlet having a predefined fluid regulating capability. The seal includes a seal body, a female fitting and an intermediate body. The seal body includes an aft end including a first surface abuttable with the male outlet and a second surface opposite the first surface and a forward end defining a bore having a fluid regulating capability reduced as compared to the predefined fluid regulating capability of the male outlet. The female fitting includes an aft end configured for engagement with the male outlet and a forward end disposable about the seal body. The intermediate body is interposable between the female fitting and the seal body and movable about the seal body with the female fitting and includes a surface configured to abut with the second surface and to force the first surface against the male outlet as the aft end of the female fitting engages with the male outlet.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, a check valve is constrained within the bore.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the male outlet includes a conical end and the first and second surfaces are conical and the forward end of the seal body has a tubular shape.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, an interface between the aft and forward ends of the seal body includes a radial shoulder curving toward the aft end of the seal body a rounded corner that turns toward the forward end of the seal body.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the aft end of the female fitting includes interior threading which is threadably engageable with exterior threading of the male outlet.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the forward end of the female fitting is disposable about an entirety of the aft end and a portion of the forward end of the seal body.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the intermediate body is freely rotatable and translatable about and along the seal body, respectively, and the surface of the intermediate body is conical.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the forward end of the female fitting and an exterior surface of the intermediate body cooperatively define a wire insertion region.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, a forward-most end of the intermediate body includes a flange and a region defined radially between the flange and the forward end of the seal body is receptive of a tube.
According to yet another aspect of the disclosure, a method of providing a seal for a male outlet having a predefined fluid regulating capability is provided. The method of providing the seal includes forming a seal body, forming a female fitting and forming an intermediate body. The forming of the seal body is conducted such that the seal body includes a seal feature including a first surface abuttable with the male outlet and a second surface opposite the first surface, a tubular feature defining a bore having a fluid regulating capability reduced as compared to the predefined fluid regulating capability of the male outlet and a retention feature configured to trap the seal feature against the tubular feature. The forming of the female fitting is conducted such that the female fitting includes an aft end configured for engagement with the male outlet and a forward end disposable about the seal body. The forming of the intermediate body is conducted such that the intermediate body is interposable between the female fitting and the seal body and movable about the seal body with the female fitting and includes a surface configured to abut with the second surface and to force the first surface against the male outlet as the aft end of the female fitting engages with the male outlet.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the method further includes constraining a check valve within the bore.
In accordance with additional or alternative embodiments, the male outlet includes a conical end and the first and second surfaces are conical.
These and other advantages and features will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings.
The subject matter, which is regarded as the disclosure, is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification.
The foregoing and other features, and advantages of the disclosure are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
These and other advantages and features will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings.
As will be described below, a fluid regulating device is incorporated into a seal or, in some cases, a conical seal that can be captured by a standard fitting. As such, where a male outlet to which the standard fitting is coupled is found to be improperly configured for a certain degree of fluid regulation in a system, the fluid regulating device can be used to provide for the required or needed fluid regulation without having to resort to a redesign of the male outlet or the system as a whole.
With reference to
As shown in
The aft and forward ends 220 and 221 and the central portion 222 of the seal element body 22 are formed to define a bore 23. The bore 23 extends between an aft open end 230 that is defined by the aft end 220 and a forward open end 231 that is defined by the forward end 221. As such, with the angled flange 21 abutting the outlet 11, the bore 23 is receptive of fluid from the outlet 11. In addition, while the outlet 11 has a fluid regulating capacity based on a diameter of the outlet 11 and the velocity of fluid that would normally flow through the outlet 11 during operational conditions, the seal housing 10 has a fluid regulating capacity that reduces that of the outlet 11 based on the bore 23 having a lesser diameter than the outlet 11 and a presence of the valve 40 therein as will be discussed below.
The fitting 30 is configured to tightly engage with the outlet 11 and, in so doing, to urge the angled flange 21 against the outlet 11 with increasing pressure as fitting-outlet engagement proceeds. The fitting 30 may be provided as a female fitting and may include a fitting element 31 and an annular body 32. The fitting element 31 is an annular element and has internal threading 310 which is engageable with external threading of the outlet 11. The annular body 32 is rotatable and translatable with the fitting element 31. The annular body 32 is also freely rotatable about the seal element body 22 and includes a surface 320 that is abuttable with the angled flange 21. In accordance with embodiments, where the angled flange 21 is conical or frusto-conical, the surface 320 may be similarly conical or frusto-conical.
The valve 40 is constrained within the bore 23 and is configured to regulate a flow of the fluid, which is received from the outlet 11, through the bore 23. The valve 40 may be provided as a check valve 401 and may include a valve body 41, a piston 42 and an elastic element 43. The valve body 41 is affixed to an interior facing surface 410 of the seal element body 22 and includes a valve seat 411. The piston 42 is anchored to the valve body 41 by the elastic element 43, which may be a spring 430, and is elastically biased by the elastic element 43 toward the valve seat 411.
With reference to
In accordance with embodiments, an interface 73 is provided between the aft and forward ends 71 and 72 of the seal body 70. Such an interface 73 may include a radial shoulder 730 and a rounded corner 731. The radial shoulder 730 extends radially outwardly from the bore 720 and curves toward the aft end 71. The rounded corner 731 turns from the radial shoulder 730 and extends toward the forward end 72.
Although not shown, a check valve, such as the check valve 401 of
The female fitting 80 includes an aft end 81 that is configured for engagement with the male outlet 60 and a forward end 82. The aft end 81 may be provided as an annular body that includes interior threading 810 that is threadably engageable with exterior threading of the male outlet 60. The forward end 82 is generally disposable about the seal body 70 and is particularly disposable about an entirety of the aft end 71 of the seal body 70 and only a portion of the forward end 72 of the seal body 70.
The intermediate body 90 is interposable between the female fitting 80 and the seal body 70. The intermediate body 90 is movable about the seal body 70 with the female fitting 80 and includes a surface 91. The surface 91 is configured to abut with the second surface 711 of the aft end 71 of the seal body 70 and is further configured to force the first surface 710 against the conical end 61 of the male outlet 60 as the aft end 81 of the female fitting 80 engages with the male outlet 60. In accordance with embodiments, the intermediate body 90 is freely rotatable about and translatable along the seal body 70. In accordance with further embodiments, the surface 91 may be conical to complement the second surface 711 of the seal body 70.
In accordance with further embodiments, the forward end 82 of the female fitting 80 and an exterior surface of the intermediate body 90 may be formed to cooperatively define a wire insertion region 100. In addition, a forward-most end of the intermediate body 90 may include an axial flange 92 such that a region defined radially between the axial flange 92 and the forward end 72 of the seal body 70 is receptive of a tubular element 93 (see
With reference to
While the disclosure is provided in detail in connection with only a limited number of embodiments, it should be readily understood that the disclosure is not limited to such disclosed embodiments. Rather, the disclosure can be modified to incorporate any number of variations, alterations, substitutions or equivalent arrangements not heretofore described, but which are commensurate with the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Additionally, while various embodiments of the disclosure have been described, it is to be understood that the exemplary embodiment(s) may include only some of the described exemplary aspects. Accordingly, the disclosure is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
