Cap seal, fastening structure provided with the same, and method for mounting cap seal

Abstract

Provided are a cap seal with which molding of a seal material by hand can be omitted and variation in cap seal mounting quality can be minimized, a fastening structure provided with said cap seal, and a method for mounting a cap seal. This cap seal comprises: a plurality of cap parts (11) which have an opening (11b) in one end, inside of which a space (11a) is formed, and which have insulation; and a base part (12) which connects the peripheries at the ends of the cap parts (11) on the opening (11b)-sides together and which has insulation; the cap parts (11) accommodating seal members and protruding parts of fastening members inside the spaces (11a), and the opening (11b)-side surface of the base part (12) being fabricated into a mounting surface (16).

Claims

1. A cap seal comprising: a plurality of cap portions each of which includes an opening at one end thereof, includes a space formed therein, and has insulating properties; and a base portion that connects peripheries of end portions of the respective cap portions on sides of the openings and has insulating properties, wherein a protruding portion of a fastening member and a sealing material are housed in the space of each cap portion, and a surface of the base portion on sides of the openings is a mounting surface.

2. The cap seal according to claim 1, wherein slits penetrating the base portion up to a side opposite to the mounting surface from the mounting surface are formed in the base portion.

3. The cap seal according to claim 2, wherein groove portions, each of which is formed between the adjacent slits and is open toward the mounting surface, are formed in the base portion.

4. The cap seal according to claim 3, wherein the base portion includes partition wall portions that are provided between the slits and the groove portions and partition the slits and the groove portions.

5. The cap seal according to claim 1, wherein the base portion has a substantially polygonal shape in plan view.

6. The cap seal according to claim 1, wherein the mounting surface is a surface that is to be mounted on a structural member of an aircraft.

7. A fastening structure for a structural member of an aircraft comprising: a plurality of fastening members that fasten a structural member of an aircraft; the cap seal according to claim 1 that is mounted on the structural member so as to cover portions of the respective fastening members protruding from the structural member; and a sealing material with which the cap seal is filled.

8. A method for mounting a cap seal, the cap seal including a plurality of cap portions each of which includes an opening at one end thereof, includes a space formed therein, and has insulating properties, and a base portion that connects peripheries of end portions of the respective cap portions on sides of the openings and has insulating properties, and a surface of the base portion on sides of the openings being a mounting surface, the method comprising: a cap portion filling step of filling the spaces of the cap portions with a sealing material; and a mounting step of causing the mounting surface to face a mounting target surface of a structural member of an aircraft and mounting the cap seal so that protruding portions of a plurality of fastening members are housed in the spaces of the respective cap portions.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a structure on which a cap seal according to an embodiment of the disclosure is to be mounted.

(2) FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the structure on which the cap seal according to the embodiment of the disclosure is mounted.

(3) FIG. 3 is a plan view of the cap seal according to the embodiment of the disclosure.

(4) FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along line I-I of FIG. 3.

(5) FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the cap seal according to the embodiment of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(6) A cap seal according to an embodiment of the disclosure will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

(7) First, the summary of a cap seal 10 will be described.

(8) A structural member 32 on which the cap seal 10 is to be mounted is shown in FIG. 1. The structural member 32 is, for example, a structural member (for example, a longeron or the like) that is provided in the wing of an aircraft. For example, a wing surface panel 34 forming the surface of the wing is mounted on one surface (the lower surface in the drawing) of the structural member 32 by fastener members (fastening members) 30.

(9) Each fastener member 30 includes a cylindrical fastener body 30a and a collar 30b. The fastener body 30a is inserted into coaxial through-holes, which are formed in both the structural member 32 and the wing surface panel 34, from a side where the wing surface panel 34 is present. Further, the collar 30b is mounted on a portion, which penetrates the wing surface panel 34 and the structural member 32 and protrudes from the structural member 32, of the fastener body 30a inserted into the through-holes, by a screw structure. That is, a portion of the fastener body 30a protruding from the structural member 32 and the collar 30b mounted thereon protrudes from the surface (the upper surface in the drawing) of the structural member 32 opposite to the surface of the structural member 32 on which the wing surface panel 34 is mounted. The portion of the fastener body 30a protruding from the structural member 32 and the collar 30b will be referred to as a “protruding portion” below. The structural member 32 and the wing surface panel 34 are fastened to each other by these fastener members 30.

(10) As shown in FIG. 2, the cap seal 10 is mounted on the surface of the structural member 32 which is opposite to one surface of the above-mentioned structural member 32 (the surface on which the wing surface panel 34 is positioned) and from which the fastener member 30 protrudes. This surface on which the cap seal 10 is mounted will be referred to as a “mounting target surface 32a” below.

(11) Next, the configuration of the cap seal 10 will be described.

(12) As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cap seal 10 includes a plurality of cap portions 11 and a base portion 12 connecting the respective cap portions 11.

(13) The cap portion 11 has a circular shape in plan view as shown in FIG. 3. Further, the cap portion 11 has the shape of a cap which includes an opening 11b at one end thereof and of which the other end is closed as shown in FIG. 4. A space 11a, which communicates with the opening 11b and extends in the height direction of the cap seal 10 (a vertical direction shown in FIG. 4), is formed in the cap portion 11. As shown in FIG. 2, the protruding portion of the above-mentioned fastener member 30 is housed in the space 11a. The cap portion 11 has insulating properties and, for example, a polysulfide resin material is employed for the cap portion 11.

(14) In the case of FIG. 3, the cap seal 10 includes six cap portions 11. Further, the six cap portions 11 are arranged substantially in the form of a parallelogram so that three cap portions 11 are arranged in a left-right direction on each of upper and lower stages, that is, two stages shown in the drawing.

(15) The base portion 12 is formed in the shape of a parallelogram so as to surround the six cap portions 11, which are arranged substantially in the form of a parallelogram, by a peripheral edge thereof in a case where the base portion 12 is viewed in plan view as shown in FIG. 3. In this case, each side of the parallelogram includes a straight portion 12a. In other words, the base portion 12 is formed in the shape of a parallelogram including four straight portions 12a. Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the base portion 12 is formed so as to connect peripheral edge portions 11c of the respective cap portions 11 on sides of the openings 11b. Accordingly, the respective cap portions 11 and the base portion 12 are integrated with each other before the cap seal 10 is mounted on the mounting target surface 32a. The base portion 12 has insulating properties and, for example, a polysulfide resin material is employed for the base portion 12. The thickness of the base portion 12 is in the range of about 1/7 to ⅕ of the thickness of the cap seal 10 in the height direction, and is set in the range of about 2 mm to 5 mm.

(16) As shown in FIG. 4, with regard to the respective cap portions 11 and the base portion 12 connecting these cap portions 11, a surface on which the openings 11b are formed is a mounting surface 16 and the mounting surface 16 is a surface facing the above-mentioned mounting target surface 32a. Further, the mounting surface 16 is in surface contact with the mounting target surface 32a, so that the cap seal 10 is mounted as shown in FIG. 2.

(17) For example, the cap seal 10 shown in FIG. 3 includes the six cap portions 11 and the base portion 12 having the shape of a parallelogram, but is not particularly limited to this configuration. The number and arrangement of the cap portions 11 may be appropriately changed depending on the number and arrangement of the protruding fastener members 30. Further, the base portion 12 is not limited to the shape of a parallelogram, and may have other polygonal shapes having substantially straight portions 12a. Furthermore, the base portion 12 may have a circular shape or an oval shape, and may have a combined shape of a polygonal shape and a circular shape (oval shape).

(18) As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, slits 13, groove portions 14, and partition wall portions 15 are formed in the base portion 12 of the cap seal 10.

(19) As shown in FIG. 3, the slits 13 are formed at a plurality of positions along the outer peripheries of the peripheral edge portions 11c of the cap portions 11. The slit 13 has a substantially arc shape having the same center as the center of the cap portion 11 having a circular shape in plan view. A plurality of (three in this embodiment) slits 13 are provided around one cap portion 11 so as to be spaced apart from each other. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, each slit 13 is formed with a predetermined width so as to penetrate the base portion up to the surface (upper surface) of the base portion opposite to the mounting surface 16 from the mounting surface 16.

(20) Each groove portion 14 is formed between the adjacent slits 13 as shown in FIG. 5. Further, each groove portion 14 is a groove having an opening on the mounting surface 16 as shown in FIG. 4, and the depth of the groove portion 14 is about ½ of the thickness of the base portion 12 and is set in the range of 1 mm to 3 mm. The groove portions 14 do not penetrate the base portion 12 unlike the slits 13.

(21) Each partition wall portion 15 is a wall formed between the slit 13 and the groove portion 14 adjacent to the slit 13. As shown in FIG. 2, the partition wall portions 15 are formed so that end portions of the partition wall portions 15 on the mounting surface 16 are in contact with the mounting target surface 32a in a case where the cap seal 10 is mounted on the mounting target surface 32a.

(22) The above-mentioned cap seal 10 is produced as follows. The cap portions 11 formed in advance are arranged in a mold machined in the shape of the base portion 12 so that the slits 13, the groove portions 14, and the partition wall portions 15 are formed. The mold in which the cap portions 11 are arranged is filled with the material of the base portion 12, so that the cap seal 10 is produced.

(23) A method for mounting the cap seal 10 will be described below.

(24) In the cap seal 10 shown in FIG. 4, first, the spaces 11a of the cap portions 11 and the groove portions 14 formed in the base portion 12 are filled with a sealing material. It does not matter whether the sealing material is extruded from the spaces 11a or the groove portions 14. The sealing material has insulating properties and, for example, a polysulfide resin material is employed as the sealing material.

(25) After that, the orientation of the cap seal 10 is set so that the mounting surface 16 of the cap seal 10 faces the mounting target surface 32a of the structural member 32. Then, the cap seal 10 is mounted on the mounting target surface 32a so that the fastener members 30 (protruding portions) protruding from the mounting target surface 32a are housed in the spaces 11a formed in the cap portions 11.

(26) Since the protruding portion of each fastener member 30 is housed in the space 11a, a part of the sealing material with which each space 11a is filled (that is, the sealing material having substantially the same volume as the protruding portion of the housed fastener member 30) is extruded from the opening 11b. The extruded sealing material flows to the slits 13, which are formed around the cap portion 11, through a gap between the mounting surface 16 and the mounting target surface 32a. Since the slits 13 penetrate the base portion up to the surface (upper surface) of the base portion opposite to the mounting surface 16 from the mounting surface 16, the sealing material extruded from each space 11a is further extruded from the upper surface side of the slits 13. That is, since a gap between each cap portion 11 and each fastener member 30 is filled with the sealing material in a case where it is possible to visually check that the sealing material is extruded from the upper surface side of the slits 13, the mounting of the cap seal 10 is ensured. The cap seal 10 is mounted on the mounting target surface 32a and the protruding portions of the fastener members 30 by the sealing material with which the spaces 11a are filled.

(27) The sealing material with which the groove portions 14 are filled fills the groove portions 14 in a case where the mounting surface 16 is in close contact with the mounting target surface 32a. At this time, since the partition wall portions 15 are formed between each groove portion 14 and the slits 13, the sealing material filling the groove portions 14 does not flow out to the slits 13. The base portion 12 of the cap seal 10 is also mounted on the mounting target surface 32a by the sealing material with which the groove portions 14 are filled.

(28) A part of the sealing material, with which the spaces 11a of the cap portions 11 and the groove portions 14 formed in the base portion 12 are filled, is extruded from the peripheral edge of the base portion 12 having the shape of a parallelogram (that is, the peripheral edge of the cap seal 10) in a case where the cap seal 10 is mounted. The extruded sealing material is manually shaped along the straight portions 12a. Accordingly, the sealing material extruded from the peripheral edge of the base portion 12 is molded. The cap seal 10 is mounted on the mounting target surface 32a through the above-mentioned steps.

(29) According to this embodiment, the following effects can be achieved.

(30) The plurality of cap portions 11 are connected to each other by the base portion 12 and the respective cap portions 11 are integrated, so that the cap seal 10 is formed. For this reason, the manual shaping of a sealing material extruded from gaps between the respective cap portions can be omitted as compared to a case where a plurality of independent cap portions are individually mounted on the mounting target surface 32a. Further, the skill of a worker is required for the above-mentioned manual shaping, but a variation in the quality of the mounting of the cap seal 10 can be suppressed since extra manual shaping is omitted.

(31) Furthermore, since the slits 13 are formed in the base portion 12, it is possible to easily and visually check that the sealing material is extruded from the space 11a formed in each cap portion 11. That is, since gaps between the cap portions 11 and the protruding portions of the fastener members 30 are filled with the sealing material in a case where it is possible to check that the sealing material is extruded from the slits 13, the mounting of the cap seal 10 is ensured.

(32) Moreover, since the groove portions 14 formed in the base portion 12 are also filled with the sealing material during the mounting of the cap seal 10, not only the cap portions 11 but also the base portion 12 itself can be mounted on the mounting target surface 32a. Accordingly, the strong mounting of the cap seal 10 as a whole can be achieved. Since the partition wall portions 15 are present, it is possible to prevent the sealing material, with which the groove portions 14 are filled, from flowing to the slits 13.

(33) Further, in a case where the base portion 12 has a substantially polygonal shape in plan view, the sealing material has only to be manually shaped along the straight portions 12a of a substantially polygonal shape even though the sealing material is extruded from the periphery of the base portion 12, that is, the periphery of the cap seal 10 when the cap seal 10 is mounted on the mounting target surface 32a using the sealing material. Accordingly, the sealing material extruded from the periphery of the base portion 12 can be easily shaped manually.

(34) The dimensions and ratios of the base portion 12 and the groove portions 14 described above are exemplary, and it goes without saying that the dimensions and ratios of the base portion 12 and the groove portions 14 described above can be appropriately changed according to the specifications of the cap seal 10.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

(35) 10: cap seal 11: cap portion 11a: space 11b: opening 11c: peripheral edge portion 12: base portion 12a: straight portion 13: slit 14: groove portion 15: partition wall portion 16: mounting surface 30: fastener member 30a: fastener body 30b: collar 32: structural member 32a: mounting target surface 34: wing surface panel