Sealed end points and methods of making the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9635775-B2
Application number	US-201414570926-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 15, 2014
Priority date	Dec 15, 2014
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

Sealed end points and methods of making the same are disclosed. An example method includes disposing a first flange of a lid within a groove of a housing. The groove is defined by first and second walls of the housing and lid. The method also includes means for welding two stationary components while rotating a third component to weld the three components together. The second flange is positioned between the first flange and the first wall. The housing, the lid, and the collar include a thermoplastic material. The method includes securing the housing and the lid relative to one another and spin welding the housing, the lid, and the collar.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
disposing a first flange of a lid within a groove of a housing, the groove defined by first and second walls of the housing;
disposing a second flange of a collar within the groove, the second flange positioned between the first flange and the first wall;
securing the housing and the lid relative to one another; and
spin welding the housing, the lid, and the collar.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to disposing the first flange in the groove, positioning electronic components within a cavity defined by the housing.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the electronic components comprise one or more of a controller, a memory, a transmitter, a receiver, or a battery.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein spin welding the housing, the lid, and the collar, comprises forming a first coupling between the first flange and the second flange and forming a second coupling between the second flange and the first wall.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein spin welding the housing, the lid, and the collar, comprises rotating the second flange of the collar within the groove and engaging respective ones of chamfers of the second flange against the housing and the lid to couple the collar to the housing and to couple the collar to the lid.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the collar comprises a distal end to enable coupling with a rotary device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein spin welding the housing, the lid, and the collar forms a hermetically sealed end point.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the hermetically sealed end point comprises a water based end point.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein securing the housing and the lid relative to one another comprising positioning a protrusion of the lid within a groove of the housing to rotationally secure the lid relative to the housing.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to disposing the first flange in the groove, disposing a sealant within the groove.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second flange comprises a chamfer.

Assignees

• Itron Inc

Inventors

• Showcatally Shawn
• Van Roekel Nathan Allen
• Woodruff Jason Robert

Classifications

• G01D11/245

  Housings for sensors · CPC title

• B29K2995/0067

  non-permeable · CPC title

• B23K2203/50

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B29C65/0672

  Spin welding · CPC title

• B23K2203/05

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic