The invention relates to the assembly method of the sealing elements of thermo-actuators used in cooling circulation circuits of internal combustion engines, and a thermo-actuator obtained by means of said method.

PRIOR ART

In the present art, in order to fix the sealing gasket, a gasket channel is formed on the valves of thermo-actuators by means of a sheet press process, and after the sealing element is placed to said channel, the channels are partially closed by means of an additional process or the sealing element is compressed inside the gasket channel in a manner preventing removal of the sealing elements. In the inventions US5603585 and US669872082, this method is described. In this method, since the surface of the contact of the sealing element to the valve housing is narrow, the sealing element is poor at compensating the planarity errors on the sealing surfaces.

Another frequently used method is to coat the surfaces, where the valve, made of sheet or plastic material, will contact the valve seating surface, with elastomer material by means of over-molding method. Elastomer coating on the valve by means of over-molding process is an expensive process and at the same time, it is not reliable since the chemicals existing in the cooling liquids, put into the engine, lead to separation of the elastomer material from the valve.

As a result, because of all of the abovementioned problems, an improvement is required in the related technical field.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an assembly method of sealing elements of thermo- actuators and a thermo-actuator obtained by means of this method, for eliminating the above mentioned disadvantages and for bringing new advantages to the related technical field. The main object of the present invention is to provide a thermo-actuator of which the sealing is increased.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a thermo-actuator where the usage lifetime of the sealing element is increased.

In order to realize all of the abovementioned objects and the objects which are to be deducted from the detailed description below, the present invention is a thermo-actuator in order to be used in cooling circulation circuits of internal combustion engines and comprising a cylindrical body, a stepped diameter embodied in protrusion form at the continuation of said body, a ring-shaped gasket positioned in the vicinity of said stepped diameter and providing sealing. Accordingly, said invention is characterized in that said gasket comprises a lower lip stopped onto a lower surface of the stepped diameter; an upper lip extending towards a side surface of the stepped diameter; a contact knuckle extending between the lower lip and the upper lip and stopped onto a connection part; and the subject matter thermo-actuator comprises a valve having a second shaft opening fixed onto the body in a shrink-fit manner in a manner tightening and crushing the gasket between the valve and the stepped diameter and having an inner gap. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, said valve is embodied in a stage-like stepped form.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, said valve comprises a contact surface positioned in a manner at least partially encircling the body.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, said valve comprises a press part which compresses a seating surface, provided on the lower lip, by means of exerting pressure towards the lower surface. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, said valve comprises a grabbing part which compresses the contact knuckle by means of exerting pressure towards the connection part.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, said valve comprises a stop part which compresses a stop surface, provided on the upper lip, by means of exerting pressure towards the side surface. In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the diameter of the upper lip of said gasket is greater than the diameter of the lower lip of said gasket.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, said gasket comprises a stage- like step between the upper lip and the lower lip.

In order to realize all of the abovementioned objects and the objects which are to be deducted from the detailed description below, the present invention is the production method of the abovementioned thermo-actuator. Accordingly, said invention comprises the following steps:

(a) Placing the gasket to the body such that a lower lip provided on the gasket is stopped onto a lower surface of the stepped diameter; an upper lip provided on the gasket extends towards a side surface of the stepped diameter; and a contact knuckle, extending between the lower lip and the upper lip, is stopped onto a connection part,

(b) Fixing a valve in a shrink-fit manner onto the body in a manner crushing and compressing the gasket between the valve and the stepped diameter.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in step (b), said valve is fixed in a shrink-fit manner in a manner at least partially encircling the body through a contact surface embodied on said valve.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, in step (b), a press part provided on said valve compresses the lower lip by means of exerting pressure towards the lower surface.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in step (b), a grabbing part provided on said valve compresses the contact knuckle by means of exerting pressure towards the connection part.

In another preferred embodiment of the present invention, in step (b), a stop part provided on said valve compresses a stop surface, provided on the upper lip, by means of exerting pressure towards the side surface. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Figure 1 is an exploded representative general view of the thermo-actuator. Figure 2 is a representative general view of the thermo-actuator. Figure 3 is a representative general view of the gasket cross section. REFERENCE NUMBERS

10 Thermo-actuator

1 1 Body

12 Stepped diameter

121 Side surface

122 Lower surface

123 Contact part

13 Cover

14 Thin shaft

20 Gasket

21 Upper lip

21 1 Stop surface

22 Contact knuckle

23 Lower lip

231 Seating surface

24 First shaft hole

30 Valve

31 Holder part

32 Contact surface

33 Press part

34 Grabbing part

35 Stop part

36 Second shaft opening

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In this detailed description, the subject matter thermo-actuator (10) is explained without forming any restrictive effect only in order to make the subject more understandable. With reference to Figure 1 , a valve (30) is positioned on said thermo-actuator (10), and a gasket (20) is positioned between said valve (30) and said thermo-actuator (10) in order to provide sealing. The thermo-actuator (10) in general has a cylindrical structure and comprises a body (1 1 ), a stepped diameter (12) embodied in protrusion form at the continuation of said body (1 1 ); a cover (13) embodied in a stepped manner and in an at least partially narrower diameter when compared with the stepped diameter (12) at the continuation of said stepped diameter (12); and a thin shaft (14) extending outwardly through the body (1 1 ) in a manner passing through the hole provided at the inner part of said cover (13). The stepped diameter (12) is positioned in a manner encircling the cover (13) and it is the continuation of the body (1 1 ), in order to form housing to the cover (13) at the continuation of the body (1 1 ) and in order to restrain the cover (13) inside this housing. There is a lower surface (122) on the side of the stepped diameter (12) facing the body (1 1 ), and there is a side surface (121 ) from the side facing outwardly, and there is a contact part (123) extending in a curved manner between the lower surface (122) and the side surface (121 ).

Said gasket (20) is made of an elastomer material. The gasket (20) comprises an upper lip (21 ); a lower lip (23) ; and a contact knuckle (22) positioned between said upper lip (21 ) and said lower lip (23). The lower lip (23) and the upper lip (21 ) are embodied in a stage-like stepped structure with respect to each other. The gasket (20) has an annular structure. The gasket (20) comprises a first shaft hole (24) encircled by the lower lip (23), the contact knuckle (22) and the upper lip (21 ). The upper lip (21 ) comprises a stop surface (21 1 ) at the part contacting the side surface (121 ) of the stepped diameter (12). The lower lip (23) comprises a seating surface (231 ) at the part contacting the lower surface (122) of the flange (12).

Said valve (30) is embodied in stage-like stepped annular form. The valve (30) is preferably made of a metal including material. There is a holder part (31 ) extending in a manner encircling the body (1 1 ) longitudinally on the valve (30), and there is a contact surface (32) defined on the inner surface of said holder part (31 ) facing the body (1 1 ) side. There is a press part (33) embodied at the continuation of the holder part (31 ) in a manner making a specific angle to the holder part (31 ). The press part (33) compresses the lower lip (23) of the gasket (20) by means of exerting pressure towards the lower surface (122) of the stepped diameter (12) on the thermo-actuator (10). At the continuation of the press part (33), there is a grabbing part (34) embodied in a manner making a specific angle with the press part (33). The grabbing part (34) compresses the contact knuckle (22) of the gasket (20) on the thermo-actuator (10) by means of exerting pressure towards the contact part (123). At the continuation of the grabbing part (34), there is a stop part (35) embodied in a manner making a specific angle to the grabbing part (34). At least the upper lip (21 ) of the gasket (20) is seated onto the stop part (35). Thus, the upper lip (21 ) is prevented from being compressed by the valve (30) and from spreading outwardly and/or downwardly, and the upper lip (21 ) grabs the side surface (121 ) of the stepped diameter (12). There is a second shaft opening (36) encircled by the contact surface (32) defined in the middle part of the valve (30).

In order to provide placement of gasket (20) on the thermo-actuators (10), used in cooling circulation circuits of internal combustion engines, for providing sealing, and in order to provide fixation of the position of the gasket (20), the following steps are applied respectively for placement of the valve (30). a) Placing the gasket (20) on the thermo-actuator (10)

The body (1 1 ) is passed through the first shaft hole (24) provided on the gasket (20), and the gasket is placed onto the thermo-actuator (10) in a manner resisting the stepped diameter (12). When the placement is completed, the upper lip (21 ) encircles the side surface (121 ) of the stepped diameter (12), and the lower lip (23) encircles the lower surface (122) of the stepped diameter (12), and thus, the stepped diameter (12) is seated into the stepped structure of the gasket (20). b) Placing the valve (30) on the thermo-actuator (10)

The valve (30) is placed behind the gasket (20) on the thermo-actuator (10) in a manner compressing and crushing the gasket (20) between the stepped diameter (12) and the valve (30). The body (1 1 ) is passed through the second shaft opening (36) of the valve (30) and is placed onto the thermo-actuator (10). The valve (30) is hammered to the body (1 1 ) diameter of the thermo-actuator (10) with shrink-fit tolerance, and the valve (30) is placed at the correct position on the body (1 1 ) diameter. By means of this, the gasket (20) is tightened and fixed between the valve (30) and the stepped diameter (12) of the thermo- actuator (10), and the upper lip (21 ) profile obtains sealing characteristic.

As the valve (30) compresses the gasket (20), the whole of the stop surface (21 1 ) contacts the side surface (21 1 ) provided on the stepped diameter (12). In a similar manner, while the press part (33) pushes the lower lip (23) towards the lower surface (122) of the flange (12), the grabbing part (34) pushes and compresses the contact knuckle (22) towards the stepped diameter (12). By means of this, the whole of the seating surface (231 ) contacts the lower surface (122), and at the same time, the whole of the surfaces of the gasket (20) facing the thermo-actuator (10) tightly encircles the stepped diameter (12) such that there is no gap in between. By means of placement of the valve (30) to the thermo-actuator (10) in a shrink-fit manner, the back-sliding of the valve (30) as a result of any pressure is prevented. Moreover, by means of the axial position of the valve (30) after tight hammering, both radial compression and axial compression are provided. Thus, in the regions where the gasket (20) contacts the stepped diameter (12) and the valve (3), exposure to contaminants is prevented, and bending of the gasket (20) towards one side in an unsupported manner is prevented. Thus, the usage lifetime of the gasket (20) is increased and thereby, the usage lifetime of the thermo-actuator (10) with sealed structure is also increased.

The protection scope of the present invention is set forth in the annexed claims and cannot be restricted to the illustrative disclosures given above, under the detailed description. It is because a person skilled in the relevant art can obviously produce similar embodiments under the light of the foregoing disclosures, without departing from the main principles of the present invention.