Sealing device and method for assembling same

The present disclosure relates to a sealing device and a method of assembling the same.

Recently, the automobile industry has been actively developing fuel-efficient vehicles in consideration of environmental problems. For the purpose of improving the fuel performance, what has been developed is a flow control valve which controls fluid such as oil or coolant. The flow control valve is equipped with a valve-use seal.

A conventionally known valve-use seal is a sealing device 111 shown in FIG. 5 (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-96747, hereinafter referred to as “Patent Literature 1”). In the conventional sealing device 111 , a front-end surface 113 a of a seal ring 113 which is elastically biased by a spring means 115 is pressed against an outer surface 121 a of a valve rotor 121 , to establish sealing between the seal ring 113 and the valve rotor 121 . A packing 114 disposed between a housing 112 and the seal ring 113 establishes sealing against a clearance c between the housing 112 and the seal ring 113 .

Note that, the outer surface 121 a of the valve rotor 121 is often a spherical or cylindrical surface. Correspondingly, the front-end surface 113 a of the seal ring 113 is also a spherical or cylindrical surface.

Technical Problem

As shown in FIG. 5 , when the outer surface 121 a of the valve rotor 121 is a cylindrical surface and correspondingly the front-end surface 113 a of the seal ring 113 is also a cylindrical surface, in order for the front-end surface 113 a of the seal ring 113 to be in contact with the outer surface 121 a of the valve rotor 121 over the entire circumference of the ring, the center axis of the cylindrical surface which is the front-end surface 113 a of the seal ring 113 must be accurately aligned with the center axis of the cylindrical surface which is the outer surface 121 a of the valve rotor 121 .

On the other hand, in Patent Literature 1, the packing 114 is mounted on a packing mounting groove 112 b which is formed at an inner circumferential surface 112 a of the housing 112 . Accordingly, in assembling the sealing device 111 , as shown in FIG. 6 , the packing 114 is mounted in advance on the packing mounting groove 112 b , and thereafter the seal ring 113 is inserted along the inner circumference of the housing 112 .

That is, in inserting the seal ring 113 into the inner circumference of the housing 112 , the packing 114 is already mounted on the packing mounting groove 11 b . Accordingly, the inserting the seal ring 113 is associated with insert resistance attributed to the elasticity of the insert resistance packing 114 . Furthermore, in the subsequent step, in an attempt to accurately align the center axis of the cylindrical surface which is the front-end surface 113 a of the seal ring 113 with the center axis of the cylindrical surface which is the outer surface 121 a of the valve rotor 121 , rotating the seal ring 113 relative to the housing 112 in the ring circumferential direction suffers rotation resistance attributed to the elasticity of the packing 114 . These insert resistance and rotation resistance attributed to the elasticity of the packing 114 may be adverse to smooth assembly work.

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a sealing device and a method of assembling the same which are free from insert resistance and rotation resistance attributed to the elasticity of a packing and hence facilitate the assembly work.

Solution to Problem

A sealing device of the present disclosure includes:

a housing;

a seal ring configured to be axially displaceably inserted along an inner circumference of the housing, the seal ring including

a front-end surface and a rear-end surface defining packing mounting space;

a packing configured to establish sealing between the housing and the seal ring, the packing being disposed in the packing mounting space; and

spring means disposed on the rear-end surface side of the seal ring to elastically bias the seal ring toward the front-end surface side.

A method of assembling a sealing device of the present disclosure includes:

inserting a seal ring into an inner circumference of a housing;

subsequently, inserting a packing into packing mounting space defined by a rear-end surface of the seal ring, to establish sealing between the housing and the seal ring; and

subsequently, inserting, from the rear-end surface side of the seal ring, spring means configured to elastically bias the seal ring toward a front-end surface side of the seal ring.

Advantageous Effects

The present disclosure is free from insert resistance and rotation resistance attributed to the elasticity of a packing and hence facilitates assembly work of a sealing device.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a sealing device according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 A is a cross-sectional view of a seal ring according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 B is a perspective view of the seal ring.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory illustration showing a method of assembling a sealing device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a sealing device according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a sealing device of a conventional technique.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory illustration showing a method of assembling a sealing device of a conventional technique.

First Embodiment

With reference to FIG. 1 , a description will be given of a sealing device according to the present embodiment. The sealing device 11 according to the present embodiment is a valve-use seal used for a flow control valve which controls fluid such as oil or coolant in the field of automobiles. A valve rotor 21 is a counterpart component with which a seal ring 13 is slidably in contact. The valve rotor 21 has an outer surface 21 a which is cylindrical. The outer surface 21 a is provided with a plurality of ports 22 . Note that, FIG. 1 shows just one port 22 .

The sealing device 11 includes a housing (seal housing) 12 , a seal ring 13 , a packing 14 , and spring means 15 . The housing 12 is sleeve-like, and has an inner circumferential surface 12 a which is cylindrical. The seal ring 13 is inserted along the inner circumference of the housing 12 so as to be axially displaceable, and brought into slidably contact with the outer surface 21 a of the valve rotor 21 at a front-end surface 13 a (the upper end in FIG. 1 ). The packing 14 is disposed between the housing 12 and the seal ring 13 , to establish sealing against a clearance c between the housing 12 and the seal ring 13 . The packing 14 is, for example, an 0 ring. The spring means 15 is disposed on the rear-end surface 13 b side (in FIG. 1 , the lower end side) of the seal ring 13 , and elastically biases the seal ring 13 toward the valve rotor 21 . The spring means 15 is, for example, a coil spring.

The seal ring 13 is formed of a member whose coefficients of friction is low, such as PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene).

As shown in FIGS. 2 A and 2 B , corresponding to the outer surface 21 a of the valve rotor 21 which is a cylindrical surface, the front-end surface 13 a of the seal ring 13 is a corresponding cylindrical surface over the entire ring circumference so as to establish contact with the outer surface 21 a of the valve rotor 21 .

At the rear-end surface 13 b of the seal ring 13 , an annular tapered surface 13 d is formed. Thus, annular packing mounting space 13 c for mounting the packing 14 is defined at the rear-end surface 13 b of the seal ring 13 . That is, the packing mounting space 13 c is defined as space whose cross section is triangular. When the packing 14 is mounted on the packing mounting space 13 c , the packing 14 is brought into contact with the tapered surface 13 d of the seal ring 13 and the inner circumferential surface 12 a of the housing 12 , to establish sealing against the clearance c between the housing 12 and the seal ring 13 .

Here, the seal ring 13 including the tapered surface 13 d exhibits excellent moldability in the case where a powder material such as PTFE is packed into a mold assembly and molded.

In order to prevent the packing 14 from coming off from the packing mounting space 13 c , the rear-end surface 13 b of the seal ring 13 may be combined with a plate-like stopper ring 16 . In this case, the spring means 15 elastically biases the seal ring 13 via the stopper ring 16 . While not shown in the drawings, a stopper ring as a spring bearing for supporting the rear end of the spring means 15 may be subsequently combined with the inner circumference of the rear end of the housing 12 .

Next, with reference to FIG. 3 , a description will be given of a method of assembling the sealing device 11 according to the present embodiment. Firstly, the seal ring 13 is inserted from the rear end side of the housing 12 . Next, from the rear end side of the housing 12 , the packing 14 is inserted into the packing mounting space ( 13 c ). Next, the stopper ring 16 is inserted from the rear end side of the housing 12 . Finally, the spring means 15 is inserted from the rear end side of the housing 12 .

The inserting the stopper ring 16 may be omitted.

After the inserting the spring means 15 , the stopper ring may be inserted from the rear end side of the housing 12 .

According to the present embodiment, the seal ring 13 is inserted before the packing 14 is mounted on the inner circumference of the housing 12 . Thus, the inserting the seal ring 13 is free from insert resistance or rotation resistance attributed to the elasticity of the packing 14 , which contributes to smooth assembly work of the sealing device 11 .

Second Embodiment

With reference to FIG. 4 , a description will be given of a sealing device according to the present embodiment. Note that, the structure of the sealing device according to the present embodiment is basically similar to the sealing device according to the first embodiment. Accordingly, a structure identical to that in the first embodiment is denoted by an identical reference numeral to omit the detailed description thereof. Hereinafter, a description will be given of a structure different from that in the first embodiment.

Specifically, the sealing device 11 according to the present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the structure of the rear-end surface 13 b of the seal ring 13 . At the rear-end surface 13 b of the seal ring 13 according to the present embodiment, an annular groove 13 e having a quadrangular cross section is formed. That is, the packing mounting space 13 c is defined as space whose cross section is quadrangular. When the packing 14 is mounted on the packing mounting space 13 c , the packing 14 is brought into contact with the groove 13 e of the seal ring 13 and the inner circumferential surface 12 a of the housing 12 , to establish sealing against the clearance c between the housing 12 and the seal ring 13 .

Next, a description will be given of a method of assembling the sealing device 11 according to the present embodiment. Firstly, the seal ring 13 is inserted from the rear end side of the housing 12 . Next, from the rear end side of the housing 12 , the packing 14 is inserted into the packing mounting space ( 13 c ) defined by the groove 13 e . Next, the stopper ring 16 is inserted from the rear end side of the housing 12 . Finally, the spring means 15 is inserted from the rear end side of the housing 12 .

The inserting the stopper ring 16 may be omitted.

After the inserting the spring means 15 , the stopper ring may be inserted from the rear end side of the housing 12 .

Similarly to the first embodiment, according to the present embodiment, the seal ring 13 is inserted before the packing 14 is mounted on the inner circumference of the housing 12 . Thus, the inserting the seal ring 13 is free from insert resistance or rotation resistance attributed to the elasticity of the packing 14 , which contributes to smooth assembly work of the sealing device 11 .

11 sealing device

12 housing

12 a inner circumferential surface

13 seal ring

13 a front-end surface

13 b rear-end surface

13 c packing mounting space

13 d tapered surface

13 e groove

14 packing

15 spring means

16 stopper ring

21 valve rotor (counterpart component)

21 a outer surface

22 port

c clearance