CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to French patent application no. 1873884, filed on Dec. 21, 2018.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM (EFS-WEB)

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STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a female fluid coupling element, as well as a fluid coupling comprising a male coupling element as well as said female coupling element.

The invention relates to the field of fluid couplings, in particular for filling reservoirs with coolant, for example up to 20 bars.

Description of Related Art

EP 1,916,464 A1 describes a female coupling element, able to receive a smooth tubular male element by fitting. The female element comprises a sealing gasket housed inside a body of the female element and able to cooperate tightly with a peripheral surface of the male element. The female element further comprises an interface member, housed inside the body of the female element. The interface member is translated parallel to the fitting axis under the action of the male element, during fitting in the female element, from a first position, in which the interface member is inserted radially between the sealing gasket and the peripheral surface of the male element, toward a second position, in which the interface member is axially offset relative to the sealing gasket, the sealing gasket resting tightly on the peripheral surface of the male element.

The interface member thus prevents the damage of the sealing gasket during the fitting of the male element, in particular if the male element has protruding irregularities in its peripheral surface.

For this known female element, the locking of the male element is provided by balls housed in a moving locking ring, the balls jamming the peripheral surface of the male element. The balls are thus maintained by a surface provided at a mouth of the body. For this known female element, the locking of the male element is automatic, since, upon coupling, the end of the male element first pushes the balls and the locking ring back toward the rear relative to the body of the female element, up to a certain position where a spring pushes the locking ring back in the opposite direction, so as to lock the male element in the female element.

However, the cumulative presence of the interface member and the locking ring causes the female element to have a significant longitudinal bulk. This bulk causes a significant length of the tubular male element to be introduced into the female element to perform the coupling.

FR 1,487,324 A describes a female coupling element, able to lock a male coupling element including a collar with a frustoconical profile. To that end, this female element comprises a bolt, comprising a tooth designed to engage with the collar in the holding position of the bolt. The locking of the male element in the female element is automatic by engagement of the frustoconical profile with this same tooth, which moves the bolt from its holding position to its releasing position in which the bolt frees the passage for the male coupling element in the female element. In a variant, the bolt is kept in the holding position of the male element by a transverse stud, which the user must push back to allow the locking and unlocking of the male element.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, this known female coupling element requires a frustoconical surface on the bolt tooth for the automatic coupling, which requires that a significant length of the male element be introduced into the female element to perform the coupling.

One aim of the invention is therefore to address the drawbacks of the prior art, by proposing a new female fluid coupling element that automatically opposes the removal of a male element fitted within it, even if the male element has a reduced length, in particular even if the outer radial surface of the part of the male element fitted in the female element has a longitudinally constant diameter.

The invention relates to a female fluid coupling element, the female coupling element being designed to adopt a coupled configuration and an uncoupled configuration and comprising:

a female body, arranging an inner channel able to receive a male coupling element by fitting along the longitudinal axis of the female coupling element;

a main sealing gasket, able to cooperate radially with the male coupling element in the coupled configuration;

a bolt, pierced with an opening designed to be passed through by the male coupling element, the bolt being mounted sliding in a bolt housing emerging from the female body, radially with respect to the longitudinal axis, between a holding position, in which the bolt cooperates with an outer radial surface of the male element and opposes the removal of the male coupling element from the female body, and a releasing position, in which the bolt allows the movement of the male coupling element in the female body; in the coupled configuration, the bolt is in the holding position; and
resilient means returning the bolt toward its holding position, and
a plunger, movable in the inner channel of the female body along the longitudinal axis between a forward position and a rear position.

According to the invention, the female coupling element comprises:

a memory ring, secured to the female body radially with respect to the longitudinal axis and movable along the longitudinal axis in the female body, between:

an advanced position, in which the memory ring cooperates with the bolt, radially with respect to the longitudinal axis, and thus keeps the bolt in the releasing position, anda withdrawn position, in which the memory ring allows the movement of the bolt toward its holding position, the plunger being able to drive the memory ring to the withdrawn position when the plunger moves from the forward position to the rear position; and
a first spring that returns the memory ring toward its advanced position. In the uncoupled configuration, the memory ring is in the advanced position.

Owing to the invention, the female element automatically ensures locking opposing the removal of the male element, when this male element is fitted in the inner channel. To that end, in the uncoupled configuration of the female element, the fitting movement of the male element pushes the plunger and thus leads the plunger to drive the memory ring to its withdrawn position. The memory ring then allows the bolt to be brought automatically into the holding position by the resilient means. The plunger and the memory ring simply being actuated by being pushed by the male element, the placement in the holding position of the bolt is done even if the male element has a longitudinally constant diameter, that is to say, it does not have a groove, collar or shoulder. In order for the male element to be able to push the plunger, it is for example provided that, during the fitting of the male element, a front end of the male element actuates the plunger.

The invention provides that the bolt is radially movable relative to the longitudinal axis so as to reduce the longitudinal bulk of the female element. The bolt being longitudinally short, it can be advantageously arranged between a front end of the female element and the plunger. Thus, during the fitting in the female element, a male element with a reduced length can still reach and actuate the plunger, so that the memory ring is driven to automatically cause the bolt to enter the holding position.

The expression “the bolt cooperates with an outer radial surface of the male element” means that the bolt is in direct contact with the outer radial surface of the male element. The bolt therefore itself opposes the withdrawal of the male element, with no intermediate part.

Advantageous features of the invention are defined hereinafter:The bolt and the memory ring comprise respective stop surfaces, which are orthoradial relative to the longitudinal axis, while the stop surface of the memory ring and the stop surface of the bolt: in the advanced position of the memory ring, are in contact to keep the bolt in the releasing position, and in the withdrawn position of the memory ring, are offset relative to one another along the longitudinal axis to allow the movement of the bolt toward its holding position.The stop surface of the bolt is delimited by the opening of the bolt.In the holding position of the bolt, the stop surface of the memory ring is opposite a holding surface of the bolt, radially relative to the longitudinal axis.The bolt comprises two locking surfaces, which delimit portions of the opening and which are suitable for cooperating with the male coupling element in the holding position of the bolt; the two locking surfaces are symmetrical relative to a radial plane with respect to the longitudinal axis; the two locking surfaces are inclined relative to one another and converge opposite the radial mouth of the bolt housing in a section plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis and passing through the two locking surfaces.The two locking surfaces are inclined relative to one another and converge toward the rear of the female coupling element in a section plane orthoradial to the longitudinal axis and passing through the two locking surfaces.The plunger has a possibility of movement relative to the memory ring, along the longitudinal axis.The memory ring and the plunger are arranged radially on either side of the female body; the female body comprises an elongate housing, which is a radial through housing, two sealing gaskets arranged on either side of the elongate housing, along the longitudinal axis, are radially inserted between the plunger and the female body, the female coupling element comprises at least one transmission element that is arranged in the elongate housing and that is able to cooperate longitudinally with the memory ring and with the plunger, such that the plunger is able to drive the memory ring toward the withdrawn position, by means of the transmission element.Each transmission element comprises an actuating ball.The plunger delimits a front spot facing for receiving a front end of the male coupling element; in the forward position and in the uncoupled configuration of the female coupling element, the plunger is inserted radially between the front spot facing and the main sealing gasket; and the plunger is movable along the longitudinal axis relative to the female body, against a second spring of the female coupling element, up to a position in which the plunger is longitudinally offset relative to the main sealing gasket.The female coupling element comprises a main housing, housing the main sealing gasket; the female body comprises an intermediate body around which the memory ring is mounted; the memory ring forms a front axial wall of the main housing.A front end of the plunger and a rear axial wall of the main housing define, along the longitudinal axis, in the uncoupled configuration, a first longitudinal distance; and the plunger comprises a contact surface by means of which the plunger, during its movement between the forward position and the rear position, comes into longitudinal contact with the transmission element in order to drive the memory ring toward the withdrawn position, the transmission element abutting rearwardly against the memory ring and the contact surface defining between them, in the uncoupled configuration, a second longitudinal distance, defined along the longitudinal axis, the second longitudinal distance being greater than or equal to the first longitudinal distance.In the uncoupled configuration, the main sealing gasket is longitudinally offset relative to the intermediate body; and in the coupled configuration, an inner radial covering surface of the intermediate body radially covers the main sealing gasket.The female coupling element further comprises an adjusting ring housed in the intermediate body and forming a rear axial wall of the main housing of the main sealing gasket in the female element, the adjusting ring being movable relative to the intermediate body along the longitudinal axis and being pushed back by a third spring toward the main sealing gasket.A third longitudinal distance, measured along the longitudinal axis, is defined in the uncoupled configuration between the front axial wall and a front end of the inner radial covering surface; in the uncoupled configuration and in the advanced position of the memory ring, the stop surfaces cooperate over a fourth longitudinal distance, defined along the longitudinal axis; and the third longitudinal distance is less than or equal to the fourth longitudinal distance.The memory ring comprises an indexing tongue, which is engaged in a longitudinal indexing slot of the bolt, to connect the memory ring and the bolt in rotation around the longitudinal axis.

The invention also relates to a fluid coupling, comprising a male coupling element, as well as the female coupling element as defined above, the male coupling element being able to abut longitudinally against the plunger and to push the plunger back from its forward position to its rear position, the bolt cooperating, in the holding position, with the outer radial surface of the male coupling element to oppose the removal of the male coupling element from the female body, the outer radial surface of the male coupling element having a longitudinally constant diameter over its entire longitudinal part fitted in the female coupling element in the coupled configuration.

