The sun and the heat it generates is a source of life and energy for our planet. It's also the source of many headaches for the hydraulic engineer, one of them being thermal expansion.
While construction and utility equipment manufacturers experience the brunt of the sun's effects, manufacturers of skid-steer loaders may have the toughest challenge of all. Often, thermal expansion creates pressures of over 2000 psi, preventing standard quick connect couplings from connecting as designed. Compounding this issue was the decision made long ago to "key" the proper hose connections by using both a coupler and nipple on both the loader and attachment.
Herein lies the problem, to easily connect an attachment containing trapped pressure due to thermal expansion, both the nipple (male half) and the coupler (female half) would be required to connect while under pressure. Presently, users must remove or otherwise manipulate the coupling's valve to relieve the pressure, defeating the purpose of using a quick disconnect in the first place. Why should the user be forced to manually relieve the pressure and possibly damage the coupling, or endanger the environment with the subsequent spillage?
As if these demands weren't tough enough, the industry also mandated that they design a coupling that meets ISO-16028, an international specification for interchangeable, push-to-connect, dry break couplings.
Patented Design
Using the latest 3-D modeling software, Snap-tite's engineers designed and patented the Series CP74 coupling. While being able to connect to any manufacturers' ISO-16028 compatible design, either the nipple or coupler will connect to static pressures of up to 3625 psi.
The CP74 solution saves time, prevents damage and protects the environment while maintaining the interchangeable criterion of ISO-16028.
