JPH0512561B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention "Field of Industrial Application" The present invention can be used to freely control fluid control elements such as air purifiers (filters), pressure regulators (regulators), and lubricators disposed in pneumatic circuits. The present invention relates to a control element connection unit that can be integrally connected in various combinations.

"Prior Art" Conventionally, there has been a technology for connecting various control elements such as filters, regulators, and lubricators in appropriate combinations to a piping system connecting a compressed air source and pneumatically operated equipment to ensure smooth operation of the operating equipment. It is well known that control elements of this type are generally connected to each other via piping fittings such as nipples, which requires a lot of piping work and also occupies a large amount of space depending on the length of the fittings installed. Along with this, problems arise both in terms of appearance and vibration resistance.

In order to eliminate this drawback, a technology that enables direct connection of control elements without using piping connectors such as nipples is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 47-9063 and 1977-53.
No. 42146 (Special Publication No. 61-42146) JP-A-58-142084
Various proposals have been made in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 59-6695 (Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-36868).

For example, FIG. 8 shows the prior art related to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 47-9063.
a to c are regulator 100a and filter 100
b or a fluid control element that functions as an on-off valve 100c, etc., and its housing 101 has a rectangular hexahedral shape in which the inlet/outlet port forming surfaces 101a and 101b have the same shape and the width and thickness are arbitrarily set; Regulator on either the upper or lower side of 101,
Functional parts 1 that function as filters or on-off valves
02a to 02c, and an outlet port 10 is installed in the center of the port forming surfaces 101a and 101b.
3 and inlet port 104, and the ports 103, 1
04 A through hole 106 is bored on the left and right walls to allow the fixed shaft 105 to pass therethrough. An annular groove 108 for mounting an O-ring 107 is formed around the outlet port 103 and the inlet port 104.

According to such prior art, each control element 100a
Since the port forming surfaces 101a and 101b of ~c are both the same shape and are formed in a planar shape,
The fixed shaft 105 is inserted into the through hole 106 and O
Desired control elements 100a through ring 107
By bringing the control elements 100a to 100c into contact with each other and clamping and fixing them with nuts 108, it is possible to construct a control element connection unit in which a plurality of control elements 100a to 100c are combined and fixed. In addition, 100d in the figure is a support member for fixing the control unit to a wall surface.

"Problems to be Solved by the Invention" Now, in the pneumatic and other fluid circuit systems, when performing precise control or when operating a plurality of operating devices, each of the control elements 10a ~c are often connected in parallel and series, and in order to save energy, the circuit system from a single pneumatic source is branched using branch piping parts called chii to connect the lubricator. In some cases, lines are separated into necessary oil supply lines and unnecessary non-lubrication lines.

However, in the prior art, the fixed shaft 105 is inserted into the through hole 106 of the housing 101 along the port axis line to arrange and fix the plurality of control elements 100a to 100c. Although it is possible to connect the control elements 100a to 100c in series along the line, it is completely impossible to connect the control elements 100a to 100c in parallel or in branches.

Therefore, when constructing the above-mentioned fluid circuit system using such conventional technology, it is necessary to use a combination of existing parts such as tees, nipples, cross pipes, etc. for branching or parallel arrangement in addition to the conventional technology. On the contrary, the complexity of the circuit system and the unsightly appearance increase.

Such drawbacks are discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 53-42146 and 58
This is also the case with the conventional techniques described in No. 142084 and Utility Model Application Publication No. 59-6695, and these techniques all use a substantially rectangular hexahedral-shaped casing that forms an entrance/exit passage. Adjacent control elements 100a to 100c can be individually connected to each other by engaging and fixing screws or other special connecting members in grooves, etc., but all of them are connected in series along the entrance and exit passages. The control elements can only be connected to each other, and this method has the same problems as the prior art described above.

Furthermore, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 49-35771, a connecting body is integrally formed, which has mounting holes for attaching each control element and a fluid passage hole for communicating between the mounting holes.
A technique has been disclosed in which an integrated control unit can be formed by attaching the control elements to the mounting holes of the coupling body, but in this technique, parallel or branched piping is also possible by devising the shape of the coupling body. However, the number and arrangement of the control elements that can be attached are restricted by the attachment holes of the connecting body, and only a single combination can be made, making it impossible to attach the control elements in any arbitrary or free combination. In this respect, it has no versatility at all.

That is, all of the above-mentioned conventional technologies were developed for the purpose of integrally connecting control elements such as filters, regulators, lubricators, etc. and assembling them as three- or four-piece sets, and the control elements It is not intended to be assembled in any number of combinations and in any arrangement direction (series, parallel, branched arrangement), and such usage is completely impossible.

In view of the drawbacks of the prior art, the first invention allows the control elements to be freely combined in any number and in any direction (series, parallel, branched, The purpose of the present invention is to provide a control element connection unit that can be assembled in a general-purpose manner.

Further, in the second invention, the control element is configured to be able to turn at a predetermined angle (preferably 90 degrees) along a plane parallel to the joint surface (port forming surface), so that a large number of It is an object of the present invention to provide a control element connection unit formed of a so-called manifold-like collection unit in which control elements are arranged in a branched manner.

"Summary of the First Invention" In order to achieve the above technical problem, the first invention provides a structure in which each housing 2 of the fluid control elements 1A to 1C, such as filters, regulators, and lubricators, has a substantially square outer wall surface. Therefore, the control unit is an enclosed block body in the shape of a substantially regular cube, and consists of a housing 2 whose four faces connected in a predetermined circumferential direction, excluding the upper and lower two faces for mounting functional parts, are substantially square wall faces. Elements 1A to 1C Group Selected plural surfaces, preferably two opposing surfaces, have fluid passage holes 3a, 4a functioning as inlet/outlet ports, and are in contact with joint surfaces 4, 3 of other elements. The joint element 20 has a block-shaped joint element 20 provided with an outer wall surface that can come into contact with the joint surfaces 3 and 4 of the control elements 1A to 1C, and preferably in a predetermined circumferential direction. Each connected outer wall surface has the control elements 1A to 1A.
The joint surface has a square shape that is substantially the same as the joint surfaces 3 and 4 on the 1C side.The joint surface is provided with through holes 26 that communicate with each other via an internal sealed space 25 on at least three of the outer wall surfaces 21 to 24. 21 to 24, the fluid through holes 3a and 4a or the through holes 3a and 4
Joint surfaces 3, 4, 21 arbitrarily selected to allow communication between a and the through hole 26 (hereinafter referred to as the through holes)
~ 24 are held in contact with each other, and the control element 1
A control element connection unit is proposed in which an essential component is that the control elements A to 1C or the control elements 1A to 1c and the joint element 20 can be connected to each other via the connection means 10.

In this case, the connecting means 10 is generally formed of a screw member, and as shown in the embodiments described later, the screw member is connected to the engaging portion (half-moon window) formed on the joint surfaces 3, 4, 21 to 24 of the one element. 11), the elements 1A to 1 are screwed into the threaded holes 12 formed on the opposite joint surfaces 21 to 24, 3, and 4.
It is configured to perform a connection between C,20.

Furthermore, by providing screw grooves for piping installation in the fluid passage holes 3a, 4a of the housing 2 and the through hole 26 of the coupling element 20, fluid pressure can be maintained at the inlet and outlet sides of the control element connection unit. Existing piping can be easily installed to communicate with sources or fluid-operated equipment.

"Action of the first invention" According to this technical means, each control element 1A to 1
a fluid passage hole 3a functioning as an inlet/outlet port of C;
A through hole is formed in the center of the joint surfaces 3 and 4 by connecting and holding the housing joint surfaces 3 and 4 with the joint surfaces 3 and 4 having the joint surfaces 4a in contact with each other through the seal means 13 by the connecting means 10. 3a and 4a may match each other to form a serially arranged connected unit. (See Figure 1) When the control elements 1A to 1C are arranged in a branched manner, the control elements 1A to 1C to be branched
It can be easily constructed by sandwiching and holding a block-shaped joint element 20 between them using the connecting means 10.

That is, the joint element 20 has an internal closed space 25.
Since there are at least three joint surfaces 21 to 24 provided with through holes 26 that communicate with each other via the through holes 26, the through holes 26 and the fluid passage holes 3a and 4a on the control elements 1A to 1C side are aligned. By holding the respective joint surfaces 3 and 4 on the control elements 1A to 1C side in contact with arbitrary joint surfaces 21 to 24 of the joint element 20, the control elements 1A to 1 are held as shown in FIG.
A connected unit can be formed by arranging C groups in a branched manner.

"Summary of the second invention" At this time, the through hole 26 of both the elements and the fluid passage hole 3
By drilling holes a and 4a in the center of the joint surfaces, the through hole 26 can be maintained even if the element view is turned at a predetermined angle, for example 90 degrees, along a plane parallel to the joint surfaces 3 and 4.
Both elements 1A to 1C, 20 can be connected with the fluid passage holes 3a, 4a aligned with each other, but as shown in the embodiment described later, a half-moon window 11 or a screw to connect the two elements can be used. Since the connecting parts such as the holes 12 are fixed at predetermined positions along the linear direction,
When the first elements 1A to 1C are deflected by 90 degrees along a plane parallel to the joint surfaces 3 and 4, the opposing half-moon windows 11 and screw holes 12 are deviated by 90 degrees as shown in FIG. As a result, connection between both elements 1A to 1C and 20 becomes impossible.

In order to eliminate such drawbacks, the coupling element 20
and a joint surface 3 of any one of the control elements 1A to 1C,
It is sufficient to attach connection parts such as the half-moon window 11 and the screw hole 12 to multiple locations on the control elements 1A to 1C that are turned 90 degrees on each of the joint surfaces 3 and 4, as shown in the example below. , 4, there are functional parts 5A that function as control elements 1A to 1C.
~5C is installed, so the half-moon window 1
1, there are only two remaining (opposing) surfaces, and it is extremely difficult to attach the half-moon window 11 to each side edge side of the joint surfaces 3 and 4, which are oriented at 90 degrees. Also, since three or four surfaces in the predetermined circumferential direction were used as the joint surfaces 21 to 24, there were only two remaining (opposing) surfaces on which the semicircular window 11 could be formed, and the orientation was similarly turned by 90 degrees. It is extremely difficult to attach the half-moon windows 11 to the respective side edges of the joint surfaces 3 and 4.

Therefore, in the second invention, a direction changing plate 30 is provided which can sandwich the control elements 1A to 1C described in the first invention together with the joint element 20 between the elements 1A to 1C, 20. An essential component is that the elements 1A to 1C, 20 can be connected by a predetermined angle, preferably 90 degrees, by connecting the two elements 1A to 1C, 20 through.

Such a direction changing plate 30 includes each element 1A to 1
On the through-hole forming surface 31 of the plate-like member in which the through-holes 31a connecting the through-holes 3a, 4a, and 26 of C and 20 are bored, at multiple locations oriented 90 degrees around the through-holes 31a. , the joint surfaces 21 to 24 on the side of the joint element 20 and the control elements 1A to 1 via the connection means 10
It can be easily constructed by forming connection parts 32 and 33 that can be connected to the C-side joint surfaces 3 and 4, respectively.

In addition, in the case where the connecting means 10 is a screw member, the connecting parts 32 and 33 are connected to the first half-moon window 11 engaged with the third and fourth half-moon windows 11 on the side of one element joining surface.
A screw hole 32 into which the screw member 10A is screwed, and an engagement portion such as a storage hole into which the second screw member 10B is screwed into the screw hole 12 of the joining surfaces 3 and 4 of the other elements. 33, and the screw hole 12 and the engaging portion 33 may be arranged at positions 90 degrees apart from each other with the through hole 31a as the center.

"Action of the second invention" As a result, since the two elements 1A to 1C, 20 can be turned at a predetermined angle and can be freely combined without any restrictions on the element arrangement direction, for example, the sixth As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 7, the main circulation circuit 20A through which the source pressure flows is constructed by connecting a plurality of joint elements 20 in series, and the remaining one or two joint surfaces 21 to 20 of the joint elements 20 are connected in series. 24
By arranging the control elements 1A to 1C in parallel at the top by changing their direction by 90 degrees around the through hole 31a,
More control elements 1A to 1C than the main distribution circuit 20A
It is possible to form a so-called manifold-like collective unit in which the elements are arranged in a branched manner.

At this time, the joint element 20 and the control elements 1A to 1
The casing 2 of C has a substantially regular cubic block shape, in other words, each surface connected in a predetermined circumferential direction is substantially the same square wall surface, so that the elements 1A to 1C, 20 are arranged vertically and horizontally. They can be freely combined and arranged in two-dimensional directions, and as a result, not only can the manifold-like collection unit be formed, but also the aesthetic appearance can be improved and space can be significantly saved.

"Embodiments" Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail by way of example with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative positions, etc. of the components described in this example are as follows, unless otherwise specified.
This is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, but is merely an illustrative example.

FIG. 1 shows a connection unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, which shows an example of a combination in which control elements 1A to 1C are branched and arranged, and 1A, 1B, and 1C are used as a filter element, a regulator element, and a lubricator element, respectively. Functional control elements 5A to 5 are functional control elements, each of which forms the housing 2 using a regular cubic block of the same shape, and whose upper and lower surfaces function as filters, regulators, and lubricators.
C is installed, and an outlet port 4a and an inlet port 3a are provided with screw grooves for piping installation carved in the center of opposing side wall surfaces that are connected in the horizontal circumferential direction.
are respectively formed, and an annular groove 14 for mounting a seal ring 13 is recessed around the port on either side thereof.

These control elements 1A to 1C control the ports 3a and 4a of the port forming surfaces 3 and 4 (joint surfaces).
A pair of screw holes 12 are formed on both left and right sides, and port forming surfaces 3 and 4 facing the screw holes 12 are provided.
A half-moon window 11 for screw attachment is opened on the side edge side of the screw hole 12 to which ten bolts screwed into the screw hole 12 can be engaged. The half-moon window 11 has its rear side 11a cut and extended horizontally and linearly along the side wall surface adjacent to the port forming surfaces 3 and 4, and the bolt 10
The aim is to make it easier to attach/remove the device.

The formation positions of the semilunar window 11 and the screw hole 12 differ depending on each control element 1A to 1C, but especially in the regulator element 1B, the semilunar window 1
Since the pressure gauge mounting hole 6 is threaded on the surface forming the port 1, a pair of threaded holes 12 are threaded on both sides of the port forming surfaces 3 and 4, respectively, without providing a half-moon window 11.

For this reason, in the filter element 1A, which is generally installed on the upstream side of the regulator element 1B, a half-moon window 11 is formed on the outlet port forming surface 4 side and a screw hole 12 is formed on the inlet port forming surface 3 side. In the lubricator element 1C attached to the downstream side of the regulator element 1B,
A half-moon window 11 is formed on the inlet port forming surface 3 side, and screw holes 12 are formed on the outlet port forming surfaces 3 and 4, respectively, and each of the elements 1A to 1C is configured to be connectable in a predetermined order using a bolt 10 screw. There is.

The joint element 20 is formed of a regular cubic block with the same side length as the casing 2, and has a through hole 26 bored in the center of outer wall surfaces 21 to 24 (joint surfaces) connected in a predetermined circumferential direction. The holes 26 are configured to be able to communicate with each other via the internal sealed space 25, and the remaining two opposing surfaces are recessed inward, and each side of the recessed portion 27 is provided with a screw on the side of the control elements 1A to 1C. A half-moon window 11 and a screw hole 12 corresponding to the hole 12 and half-moon window 11 are recessed or threaded, respectively, and these are opened to the joining surfaces 21 to 24.

According to such an embodiment, the filter element 1A
One joint surface 21 of the coupling element 20 is brought into contact with the exit port forming surface 4 side of the bolt screw 10 through the seal ring 13, and the bolt screw 10 is engaged with the semicircular window 11.
Then, the regulator element 1B is connected to arbitrarily selected two or three of the remaining three joint surfaces 22 to 24 of the joint element 20 using a similar connection method. Therefore, a branch connection unit can be easily formed, and by increasing the number of joint elements 20, the number of branch circuits can be easily increased. Incidentally, among the through holes 26 drilled in the coupling element 20, unused through holes 26 may be sealed with blind plugs or the like.

On the other hand, the joint element 20 and the control elements 1A to 1
The half-moon window 11 and the screw hole 12 formed in C are formed in pairs each with the through hole 26 or the ports 3a and 4a in between, in other words, they are fixedly located on one center line, so that As shown in the figure, it is impossible to connect the control elements 1A to 1C and 20 with one of the elements 1B and 20 turned 90 degrees around the through hole 26 or the ports 3a and 4a. be.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the second invention, the direction changing arrangement is made possible by interposing the direction changing plate 30 between the elements 1A to 1C, 20 which are to be connected by changing their direction.

FIG. 4 shows the shape of such a direction changing plate 30,
It is formed of a flat plate member having the same side length as the casing 2, and a through hole 31 is bored in the center of the flat plate member, and bolts 10 are inserted along each center line that intersects the through hole 31 at right angles. Stepped part 32 for storing the head
A pair of stepped holes 33 for attaching a screw having a diameter a and a pair of screw holes 32 each having a screw groove formed therein are bored.

Then, as shown in FIG. 5, the direction changing plate 30 is placed between the elements 1B and 20 whose direction is changed by 90 degrees,
By screwing the bolt screw 10 housed in the stepped hole 33 into the screw hole 12 on the control element 1B side, the direction change plate 30 and the control element 1B are first connected, and then the half-moon window on the joint element 20 side is connected. The bolt screw 10 engaged with 11 is inserted into the screw hole 3 on the direction changing plate 30 side.
Screw it onto 2.

In this case, since the stepped holes 33 and the screw holes 32 bored in the direction change plate 30 are respectively bored on the center line which is oriented 90 degrees around the through hole 31, the direction change plate 30 is The elements 1B and 20 which are connected through the through hole 31a are turned 90 degrees around the through hole 31a and connected.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, after forming a main circulation circuit 20A for passing the source pressure by connecting a plurality of the coupling elements 20 in series, each joint surface parallel to the main circulation circuit 20A is formed. 24, by sequentially connecting the lubricator elements 1C adjacently through the direction changing plates 30, the standard lubricator elements 1C can be easily formed into a manifold and formed as a collective unit.

Moreover, in this embodiment, since the joint surfaces 21 to 24 having the through holes 31 are formed on any of the four surfaces connected in the predetermined circumferential direction, the joint elements 20 forming the main circulation circuit 20A are Both upper and lower sides 2
By forming the regulator elements 1B in two rows on the 2 and 24 sides through the direction conversion plates 30, it is possible to parallel/serialize the collective units, and further collective arrangement becomes possible.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, a block-shaped joint element 20 having the same side length as the housing 2 and a direction changing plate 30 are placed between the groups of control elements 1A to 1C formed by the housing 2 of the same shape. By sandwiching and connecting the control elements at different positions, a control element connection unit can be formed in any combination without being limited by the arrangement direction, arrangement position, or number of arrangement elements, and the above-mentioned effects of the present invention can be smoothly achieved. It can be achieved.

``Effects'' As described above, according to the present invention, the control elements can be freely combined in any number and arrangement direction (series, parallel, branched, etc.) without using any piping connectors such as tees, nipples, cross pipes, etc. array), or the control element can be assembled on the joint surface (port forming surface).
at a predetermined angle (preferably 90°) along a plane parallel to
They can be assembled with different angles and can form extremely versatile combination coupling units.

As a result, it is possible to install air supply sections of different quality in one place, or to form a so-called manifold-like collective unit in which a large number of control elements are branched from the main circulation circuit, which saves installation space. It is possible to improve vibration resistance and greatly reduce assembly man-hours.

Furthermore, since the joint elements are made into cubes that match the connecting surfaces of each control element, the connection work is very easy, and the appearance is unified and the design is excellent.

Further, the range of applications is expanded by using a direction changing plate in addition to the above-mentioned joint elements, and a manifold-like collection can be easily constructed, which is extremely advantageous in terms of maintenance such as centralized control.

It has various effects such as

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 show the configuration of a connection unit according to an embodiment of the first invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the connection unit showing an example of a combination when control elements are arranged in branched manner, Figures A and B are longitudinal and cross-sectional views of the coupling element used in the unit. 3 to 7 show the configuration of a coupling unit according to an embodiment of the second invention, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of the orientation change arrangement of a joint element and a control element that require a direction change plate; FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing how to attach the direction changing plate, FIGS. 4 A and B are a plan view and a cross-sectional view showing the shape of the direction changing plate, and FIGS. 6 and 7 show how the direction changing plate is used. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a manifold-like collection unit formed by branching a plurality of control elements from a main flow passage formed by arranging joint elements in series. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the structure of a connection unit according to the prior art.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A control element that is constituted by a block-shaped housing having a substantially regular cubic shape, and has two or more joint surfaces provided with fluid passage holes that function as outlet and inlet ports on the outer wall of the housing. and a block-shaped joint element having at least three joint surfaces provided with through-holes that can come into contact with the through-hole forming surfaces of the control element group and communicate with each other via an internal sealed space. , a control element connection comprising a connection means for connecting the arbitrarily selected elements, wherein the connecting surfaces of the elements are held in contact with each other and the through holes are configured to communicate with each other. Unit 2: A control element connecting unit 3 according to claim 1, wherein both the housings of the joint element and the control element are formed of regular cubes having substantially the same shape.The connecting means is configured with a screw member. At the same time, either an engagement portion for engaging the screw member or a screw hole into which the screw member is screwed is formed on the joint surface side of each element. Control element connection unit 4 according to item 2, in which the fluid passage hole and the joint element through hole of the casing,
The control element connection unit 5 according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which is provided with a screw groove for pipe attachment. , a control element group having two or more joint surfaces provided with a fluid passage hole functioning as an inlet/outlet port in the central part of the outer wall surface of the casing; a block-shaped joint element having at least three joint surfaces provided with through holes that communicate with each other through a sealed space; and a direction changing plate sandwiched between arbitrarily selected joint surfaces of the elements. A control element connecting unit 6, characterized in that by connecting both elements via the direction changing plate, the two elements can be connected by changing the direction at a predetermined angle. Connections that can be connected to joint surfaces of respective elements facing each other at a plurality of locations on a through-hole forming surface of a plate-like member having through-holes formed therein, the through-holes being oriented at a predetermined angle around the through-holes. The control element connection unit 7 according to claim 5, in which the connection portion has a screw hole into which a first screw member engaged with one element is screwed, and another element. The control element connecting unit 8 according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the second screw member screwed into the control element is an engaging portion to which the second screw member is engaged. 8. The control element connection unit according to claim 7, wherein the control element connection units are formed at positions deviated by 90 degrees from the center.