PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A MINERAL-INSULATED SOCKET

Abstract

Provided is a process for the manufacture of a mineral-insulated socket, especially as a module for the manufacture of an electrical feedthrough and especially for use in an exhaust gas duct of a motor vehicle. The mineral-insulated socket has a metallic inner part arranged in a metallic outer pipe and electrically insulated from this metallic outer pipe by an electrically insulating, mineral material. In a process, the metallic inner part, the electrically insulating material, and the outer pipe are compressed to form a composite and in a subsequent step, the mineral-insulated socket is produced by removing at least one complete section of the compressed composite.

Claims

1. A process for the manufacture of a mineral-insulated socket, especially as a module for the manufacture of an electrical feedthrough and especially for use in an exhaust gas duct of a motor vehicle, the mineral-insulated socket comprising: a metallic inner part arranged in a metallic outer pipe and electrically insulated from the metallic outer pipe by an electrically insulating mineral material, characterized in that, in a process of constructing the mineral-insulated socket, in one step the metallic inner part, the electrically insulating material, and the outer pipe (13, 23, 33, 43) are compressed to form a composite and in a subsequent step the mineral-insulated socket is produced by removing at least one complete section of the compressed composite.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the composite is a bar stock material.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the metallic inner part used for the manufacture of the compressed composite is solid.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein the metallic inner part used in the manufacture of the compressed composite is a pipe.

5. The process according to claim 4, wherein the pipe used as the metallic inner part in the manufacture of the compressed composite is filled with a core during the compression.

6. The process according to claim 5, wherein the core is removed after the compression of the composite.

7. The process according to claim 1, wherein the process further includes the step of forming an opening in the metallic inner part.

8. The process according to claim 7, wherein the opening is formed in the metallic inner part before the removal step.

9. The process according to claim 8, wherein the opening is formed in the metallic inner part after the removal step.

10. The process according to claim 8, wherein the opening is formed in the metallic inner part such that the opening completely penetrates through the metallic inner part.

11. The process according to claim 8, wherein the opening is formed as a blind hole in the metallic inner part.

12. The process according to claim 9, wherein an additional opening is formed in the metallic inner part from an opposite side relative to the opening, such that a separating wall remains in the metallic inner part between the opening and the additional opening.

13. The process according to claim 7, wherein the opening is formed concentric to a pipe center axis of the outer pipe.

14. The process according to of claim 1, wherein parts of the outer pipe of the mineral-insulated socket are removed, so that the outer pipe has multiple outer pipe sections electrically insulated from each other.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

[0042] The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of the preferred invention, will be better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the preferred invention, there are shown in the drawings embodiments which are presently preferred. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings:

[0043] FIG. 1a is a side perspective, partial fragmentary view of a step of a first embodiment of a process for the manufacture of a mineral-insulated socket,

[0044] FIG. 1b is a cross-sectional view taken along a center axis A of the mineral insulated socket of FIG. 1 in an intermediate stage after the step from FIG. 1a,

[0045] FIG. 1c is a cross-sectional view taken along the center axis A of the mineral insulated socket of FIG. 1 in a second intermediate stage after the compression of the first intermediate stage of FIG. 1b,

[0046] FIG. 1d is a cross-sectional view taken along the center axis A of the mineral insulated socket of FIG. 1 after completion of the mineral-insulated socket in a first variant of the first embodiment of the process,

[0047] FIG. 1e is a cross-sectional view taken along the center axis A of the mineral insulated socket of FIG. 1 related to an optional additional step in the processing of the second intermediate stage of FIG. 1c,

[0048] FIG. 1f is a cross-sectional view taken along the center axis A of the mineral insulated socket of FIG. 1 after completion of the mineral-insulated socket in a second variant of the first embodiment of the process,

[0049] FIG. 2a is a side perspective, partial fragmentary view of a step of a second embodiment of the process for the manufacture of a mineral-insulated socket,

[0050] FIG. 2b is a cross-sectional view taken along a center axis A of the mineral insulated socket of FIG. 2a after completion of the mineral-insulated socket in the second embodiment of the process,

[0051] FIG. 3a is a side perspective, partial fragmentary view of a step of a third embodiment of the process for the manufacture of a mineral-insulated socket,

[0052] FIG. 3b is a cross-sectional view taken along a center axis A of the mineral insulated socket of FIG. 3a in an intermediate stage in the third embodiment of the process for the manufacture of a mineral-insulated socket,

[0053] FIG. 3c is a cross-sectional view taken along the center axis of the mineral insulated socket of FIG. 3a after completion of the mineral-insulated socket in the third embodiment of the process,

[0054] FIG. 4a is a cross-sectional view of a first additional example of a mineral-insulated socket that can be produced with an embodiment of the process,

[0055] FIG. 4b is a cross-sectional view of a second additional example of a mineral-insulated socket that can be produced with an embodiment of the process, and

[0056] FIG. 4c is a cross-sectional view of a third additional example of a mineral-insulated socket that can be produced with an embodiment of the process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0057] FIG. 1a shows a step of a first embodiment of the process for the manufacture of a mineral-insulated socket 100. Here, a metallic outer pipe 13, an electrically insulating material 12, which is provided here as a tubular molded body made from magnesium oxide, whose outer diameter is adapted to the inner diameter of the metallic outer pipe 13, and a bar-shaped metallic inner part 11, which can be made, e.g., from NiCr8020 and whose outer diameter is adapted to the inner diameter of the tubular molded body made from magnesium oxide, are pushed one into the other, so that the intermediate stage shown in FIG. 1b is produced.

[0058] Through the compression process, which is indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1c, the further intermediate stage shown in FIG. 1c is produced, namely the compressed bar stock material 1, in which, in particular, the position of the components of the bar stock material are fixed and the porosity of the electrical insulating material 13—as can be easily seen in the significantly reduced thickness of this layer in the sectional representation of FIG. 1c— is significantly reduced, so that sufficient tolerances with respect to mechanical loads and low leakage rate are guaranteed.

[0059] From the bar stock material 1, as shown in FIG. 1d, the mineral-insulated socket 10 can then be produced in that the mineral-insulated socket 10 is cut with the tool 2000.

[0060] Starting from such a mineral-insulated socket 10, for example, the mineral-insulated sockets 400, 400′, and 400″ shown in FIGS. 4a to 4c can be produced with metallic inner part 41, electrically insulating material 42, and metallic outer pipe 43. For this purpose, additional openings 44, 44′, 44″ and 45, 45′, 45″ are formed from the end side in the metallic inner part 11 and 41, respectively, to produce sockets 400, 400′, 400″, which can bear additional components of the feedthrough, wherein these are separated from each other by a separating wall 46, 46′ in the embodiments of FIGS. 4a and 4b.

[0061] Alternatively, at first the bar stock material 1 can also be further processed, for example, as shown in FIG. 1e, by the formation of an opening into the metallic inner part 11 from the end side of the bar stock material 1, which can be done, for example, with the drill 1000.

[0062] If a section of the bar stock material 1, as shown in FIG. 1f, is then cut with a tool 2000, whose length is less than the depth of the opening, a tubular, mineral-insulated socket 100′ can be produced. It is also possible, however, to cut a section with a larger length than the depth of the opening, which then leads to a mineral-insulated socket with a blind hole.

[0063] A second embodiment of the process, to which FIGS. 2a and 2b relate, differs from the first embodiment, as can be seen in FIG. 2a in that here, a tubular metallic inner part 21 is pushed into the electrically insulating material 22 provided as a tubular body and the outer pipe 23. The bar stock material 2 produced by the compression process can then be cut again with a tool 2000, as shown in FIG. 2b, so that a tubular mineral-insulated socket 20 is produced directly.

[0064] A third embodiment of the process to which FIGS. 3a to 3c relate differs from the second embodiment, as can be seen in FIG. 3a, in that here, a core 34, which stabilizes the tubular metallic inner part during the compression process, is inserted into the tubular metallic inner part 31, which is pushed into the electrically insulating material 32 provided as a tubular body and the outer pipe 33. This core can then be drilled out at least in some sections with a drill 1000 from the bar stock material 3 produced by the compression process, as shown in FIG. 3b, before the socket 30 is separated with a tool 2000, as shown in FIG. 3c.

[0065] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but it is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

LIST OF REFERENCE SYMBOLS

[0066] 1, 2, 3 Bar stock material [0067] 11, 21, 31, 41 Metallic inner part [0068] 12, 22, 32, 42 Electrically insulating material [0069] 13, 23, 33, 43 Outer pipe [0070] 34 Core [0071] 44, 44′, 44″, 45, 45′, 45″ Opening [0072] 46, 46′ Separating wall [0073] 100, 100′, 200, 300, [0074] 400, 400′, 400″ Electrical feedthrough [0075] 1000 Drill [0076] 2000 Tool [0077] A Center axis