# US 11,898,664 B2 · Universal indissoluble pipe connection system and joint comprised in said system

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- Number: US 11,898,664 B2
- Document ID: US11898664B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/321,025
- Filed: 2017-09-18
- Published: 2021-09-16
- Granted: 2024-02-13
- Earliest claimed: 2016-09-19
- Applicants: Raccorderie Metalliche S.p.A.
- Inventors: Silvio Pozzetti; Stefano Nosé
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11898664B2

## CPC

- F16L 13/142: {with a sealing element inserted into the female part before crimping or rolling}
- B21D 39/046: {Connecting tubes to tube-like fittings}
- B25B 27/10: inserting fittings into hoses
- B21D 39/04: of tubes with tubes; of tubes with rods {(crimped pipe joints as such F16L13/14)}
- F16L 2013/145: {Tools specially adapted therefor}
- F16L: PIPES; JOINTS OR FITTINGS FOR PIPES; SUPPORTS FOR PIPES, CABLES OR PROTECTIVE TUBING; MEANS FOR THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL
- B21D: WORKING OR PROCESSING OF SHEET METAL OR METAL TUBES, RODS OR PROFILES WITHOUT ESSENTIALLY REMOVING MATERIAL; PUNCHING METAL (working or processing of wire B21F)
- B25B: TOOLS OR BENCH DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR, FOR FASTENING, CONNECTING, DISENGAGING, OR HOLDING

## Abstract

A universal pipe connection system includes a fitting with a tubular body and an annular bulge defining an annular groove on the inner side of a tubular body, which houses a sealing gasket. The tubular body receives the end portion of a pipe so that a pressing tool having opposite pressing jaws can engage the tubular body and generate a circumferential band adjacent to the bulge by mechanically clamping the tubular body in the circumferential and axial directions and causing a deformation of the annular bulge, which presses the gasket, and generates a seal between the tubular body and the end of the pipe inserted therein. The annular bulge and the corresponding annular groove have a geometry and size adapted to cooperate with two different types of pressing tools, one with a M profile and one with a V profile, which may be present in the alternative or in combination.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A universal pipe connection system comprising:
a fitting comprising a tubular body with an annular bulge at an end portion, the annular bulge forming on, an inner side of the tubular body, an annular groove housing a sealing gasket, the annular groove being open towards an inside of the tubular body, the end portion extending on a side opposite to an end of the fitting with a cylindrical portion,
wherein said tubular body provides a fitting socket for an end portion of a pipe; and
at least one pressing tool having at least two opposite pressing jaws, which are configured to cooperate with said end portion of the fitting, by surrounding the end portion of the fitting along its circumference, the pressing jaws having a profile of a surface in contact with said end portion of the fitting shaped to press said end portion of the fitting against the end portion of the pipe inserted into said fitting, causing, in at least one circumferential band adjacent to the annular bulge, a contemporaneous deformation of a wall of the pipe and of the cylindrical portion of said end portion of the fitting, so that the end portion of the fitting and the wall of the pipe become mechanically clamped together in a circumferential and axial direction and a deformation of the annular bulge presses the gasket, generating a sealing effect between said tubular body and the end of the pipe inserted therein,
wherein:
the annular bulge and the annular groove are provided at a given axial distance from the end of the fitting, there being provided the cylindrical portion between said end of the fitting and a side of the bulge facing said end of the fitting;
the annular bulge and the groove have such a geometry and size to cooperate alternatively with two different types of pressing tools selected among a pressing tool having a M profile and a pressing tool having a V profile;
the universal pipe connection system comprises, alternatively or in combination, both the pressing tool with the M profile and the pressing tool having the V profile; and
wherein the tubular body comprises the annular bulge and the annular groove each having two side walls and the cylindrical portion connected thereto with a curved flare, the annular bulge having a radial projection with respect to a diameter of an outer side of the cylindrical portion; and
wherein:
the two sides walls are connected with each other by a curved portion having a radius ranging from 1 mm to 2.5 mm;
said radius has a size ranging from 3% to 7% of a diameter of the tubular body;
said two side walls form two sides of the bulge and of the annular groove and are connected to the cylindrical portion by the curved flare having an equal radius of curvature as said two side walls and ranging from 0.25 mm to 0.75 mm;
the radial projection of the annular bulge changes for outer diameters of the cylindrical portion of the fitting from 18 mm to 60 mm, and from 2 mm to 4 mm;
the radial projection of the annular bulge in relation to a diameter of the outer side of cylindrical portions on the two sides thereof ranges from 5% to 15% of the diameter of the outer side of said cylindrical portions;
an axial distance between a central axis of the annular bulge and a free edge of the cylindrical portion at a port of the fitting ranges from 10 mm to 16 am for diameters of the cylindrical portion ranging from 20 mm to 60 mm;
the axial distance is higher than 20% of an outer diameter of the cylindrical portions; and
a thickness of a wall of the fitting is essentially the same for an entire axial length thereof and is about 3 mm.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The universal pipe connection system according to claim 1, wherein the side walls or the radial sides of said annular bulge and of said annular groove form therebetween an angle ranging from 50° to 70°.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The universal pipe connection system according to claim 1, wherein the sealing gasket has a non-circular cross-section.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The universal pipe connection system according to claim 3, wherein the sealing gasket has a cross-section widening towards an open side of the annular groove in a manner corresponding to a sectional shape of said annular groove having rounded sides.

### Claim 5 (depends on 3)

The universal pipe connection system according to claim 3, wherein the sealing gasket has a cross-section shaped as an isosceles trapezoid with convex bases.

### Claim 6 (depends on 3)

The universal pipe connection system according to claim 3, wherein the sealing gasket has a cross-section essentially shaped as a geometrical figure enclosed between two segments of equal sides of an isosceles triangle with a vertex angle ranging from 55° to 65°, a first arc of circumference of radius r inscribed in said isosceles triangle, and an arc of radius 2r centered in a middle point of said first arc.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The universal pipe connection system according to claim 6, wherein said isosceles triangle is an equilateral triangle.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The universal pipe connection system according to claim 1, wherein the sealing gasket has an inner diameter equal to or smaller than an inner diameter of the tubular body.