Patent Application
20210025528
The present disclosure generally relates to valve guides, including valve guides that may be used in connection with a male half of a quick disconnect or a female half of a quick disconnect coupling (QD).
This background description is set forth below for the purpose of providing context only. Therefore, any aspect of this background description, to the extent that it does not otherwise qualify as prior art, is neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the instant disclosure.
Conventional valve guides that are used in male halves of quick disconnects often do not incorporate features to provide support of a valve retention collar during initial assembly. Such valve guides commonly require the use of an installation or assembly tool, which is usually used for installation from the backside of the quick disconnect.
Among other things, it would be desirable to eliminate the need for an installation or assembly tool, and without affecting the size of the quick disconnect. It would further be desirable to allow the quick disconnect to be used with elbow assemblies using one-piece, unitary bodies, and further to have the ability to connect to quick disconnects of the same style without being affected. The ability to form a one-piece, unitary component/body can eliminate the need for multi-piece bodies having or requiring an elastomeric seal between components. Further, such a one-piece, unitary component can save cost and/or weight, and may eliminate potential leak paths.
There is a desire for solutions/options that minimize or eliminate one or more challenges or shortcomings of valve guides and fluid couplings. The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate examples of the present field and is not a disavowal of scope.
Among other things, the use of a one-piece, unitary component/body can save cost and weight and may eliminate potential leak paths. Embodiments of the novel valve guides may be designed or configured to avoid a need to change external dimensions used with existing QDs, so connectivity to QDs of the same or similar type/style is not materially affected.
In embodiments, a valve guide for a coupling including a circular, longitudinally extending portion, including a substantially circular channel extending therethrough; a ring portion; a plurality of ports radially disposed around a centerline of the valve guide; and one of more collar supports disposed radially about the circular, longitudinally extending portion. The valve guide comprises a unitary one-piece component. A male portion for a coupling that includes a valve guide with integral assembly support and a method for assembling a coupling assembly are also disclosed.
The foregoing and other potential aspects, features, details, utilities, and/or advantages of examples/embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent from reading the following description, and from reviewing the accompanying drawings.
While the claims are not limited to a specific illustration, an appreciation of various aspects may be gained through a discussion of various examples. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, and certain features may be exaggerated or hidden to better illustrate and explain an innovative aspect of an example. Further, the exemplary illustrations described herein are not exhaustive or otherwise limiting, and are not restricted to the precise form and configuration shown in the drawings or disclosed in the following detailed description. Exemplary illustrations are described in detail by referring to the drawings as follows:
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are described herein and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the present disclosure will be described in conjunction with embodiments and/or examples, they do not limit the present disclosure to these embodiments and/or examples. On the contrary, the present disclosure covers alternatives, modifications, and equivalents.
Another embodiment of a valve guide 10, with an integral assembly support, is generally illustrated in
Moreover, embodiments of valve guides 10, such as disclosed herein, may be formed as a single, unitary component, which may be formed from a common material. Such single, unitary components may be formed as a one-piece component, which may comprise a metal or a plastic material, and may, if desired, be formed via additive manufacturing.
Various examples/embodiments are described herein for various apparatuses, systems, and/or methods. Numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the overall structure, function, manufacture, and use of the examples/embodiments as described in the specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It will be understood by those skilled in the art, however, that the examples/embodiments may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known operations, components, and elements have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the examples/embodiments described in the specification. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the examples/embodiments described and illustrated herein are non-limiting examples, and thus it can be appreciated that the specific structural and functional details disclosed herein may be representative and do not necessarily limit the scope of the embodiments.
Reference throughout the specification to “examples, “in examples,” “with examples,” “various embodiments,” “with embodiments,” “in embodiments,” or “an embodiment,” or the like, means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example/embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases “examples, “in examples,” “with examples,” “in various embodiments,” “with embodiments,” “in embodiments,” or “an embodiment,” or the like, in places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more examples/embodiments. Thus, the particular features, structures, or characteristics illustrated or described in connection with one embodiment/example may be combined, in whole or in part, with the features, structures, functions, and/or characteristics of one or more other embodiments/examples without limitation given that such combination is not illogical or non-functional. Moreover, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from the scope thereof.
It should be understood that references to a single element are not necessarily so limited and may include one or more of such element. Any directional references (e.g., plus, minus, upper, lower, upward, downward, left, right, leftward, rightward, top, bottom, above, below, vertical, horizontal, clockwise, and counterclockwise) are only used for identification purposes to aid the reader's understanding of the present disclosure, and do not create limitations, particularly as to the position, orientation, or use of examples/embodiments.
Joinder references (e.g., attached, coupled, connected, and the like) are to be construed broadly and may include intermediate members between a connection of elements and relative movement between elements. As such, joinder references do not necessarily imply that two elements are directly connected/coupled and in fixed relation to each other. The use of “e.g.” in the specification is to be construed broadly and is used to provide non-limiting examples of embodiments of the disclosure, and the disclosure is not limited to such examples. Uses of “and” and “or” are to be construed broadly (e.g., to be treated as “and/or”). For example and without limitation, uses of “and” do not necessarily require all elements or features listed, and uses of “or” are inclusive unless such a construction would be illogical.
While processes, systems, and methods may be described herein in connection with one or more steps in a particular sequence, it should be understood that such methods may be practiced with the steps in a different order, with certain steps performed simultaneously, with additional steps, and/or with certain described steps omitted.
All matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not limiting. Changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from the present disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/878,427, filed on Jul. 25, 2019, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety as though fully set forth herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62878427 | Jul 2019 | US |
