Bellows Sealed Ball Joint And Method Of Forming

In a typical aircraft mounted gas turbine engine

, ball-and-socket joint, or simply ball joint, are used for joining together fluid carrying conduits which require articulation therebetween. An integral bellows seal is provided inside the ball joints for preventing leakage of the fluid flow therethrough while allowing articulation of the ball joint itself.

Accordingly, in order to assemble these three components of a typical ball joint, one conventional method requires that the outer spherical socket be initially formed as two halves or split so that the bellows and the ball may be initially assembled into the socket first half, with the socket second half being positioned over the ball and welded to the socket second half to complete the assembly. This assembly process is relatively complex, and the welding together of the two socket halves may cause undesirable distortion thereof, undesirable residual stresses therein, and an undesirable weld located in a highly stressed location of the unit.

Since the ball and socket are spherical for allowing articulation therebetween while holding together the two components thereof, they cannot be simply assembled together in their final form. Similarly, the large diameter convolutions of the bellows are typically located inside the spherical ball and socket, and therefore the bellows also cannot be simply assembled into the ball joint in its final form.

Ball joints are used in fluid lines to impart limited flexibility for the purpose of accommodating tolerances, thermal expansion and vehicular motion. They can be used in almost any type of fluid line. However, the particular joint under consideration is adapted for use in jet aircraft engine bleed air ducting.

That is, applying the term to a pivotable hollow structure does not mean that the core member is a ball or sphere; neither is the encasing structure (housing) necessarily of a spherical shape, as these terms are used in the mathematical sense. Only when true mathematically defined spherical shape is described in mathematical terms, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,577 ("tri-axial symmetry"), is it intended that terms such as "ball" and "sphere" or "spherical" are to be defining in the precise mathematical sense.

The spherical socket is formed with axially extending locking tabs which are initially axially translated over complementary indentations in the outer surface of the ball which allows the ball and socket to be assembled together around a bellows therein. The ball and socket are then rotated relative to each other so that the socket tabs are positioned remotely from the ball indentations which prevents the unintended disassembly of the ball joint. This design also is relatively complex and requires the additional formation of the locking tabs and assembly indentations.

A ball joint includes a tubular outer shroud having a one-piece socket which receives a complementary ball of a tubular inner shroud. The ball joint is preferably formed by plastically deforming the outer shroud to integrally form the socket around the ball. The socket may be formed around a preformed ball, or both the ball and socket may be integrally plastically formed simultaneously thereby eliminating the need for any welding in the socket.

by: rui feng

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