Acoustic Sealing Elements for Accessible Panel Cavities
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Solution Overview
Problem
Acoustic panels in aircraft engines and gas turbines suffer from reduced acoustic performance and sealing issues due to through cavities, which disrupt the acoustic field and cause structural discontinuities, necessitating improved designs to maintain acoustic treatment effectiveness and structural integrity.
Innovation Solution
A multicellular acoustic panel with a closure element containing acoustic cells and a deformable seal that fits into through cavities, ensuring sealing and maintaining acoustic performance by minimizing the impact of these cavities, allowing easy access and replacement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If through cavities are provided in the acoustic panel to allow access to structures behind the panel, then ease of operation is improved, but acoustic performance deteriorates due to reduced functional surface area and creation of splices that disrupt the acoustic field
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the harmful effect of through cavities by introducing closure elements that fill these cavities. The closure elements are removable, allowing access when needed, but normally remain in place to maintain acoustic continuity. This separates the access function from the acoustic treatment function, enabling both requirements to be satisfied without compromising either.
Solution Approach 2:
The closure elements are designed with specific local properties: they have seals to ensure acoustic continuity with the panel, and they are removable to provide access when needed. This local adaptation allows the system to maintain acoustic integrity in the majority of the panel surface while providing access points where required.
2Ease of operation
If through cavities are provided in the acoustic panel, then ease of operation is improved, but sealing performance deteriorates due to discontinuities in the acoustic treatment
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful discontinuities caused by through cavities are extracted by introducing closure elements that fill these cavities. The closure elements include seals that ensure acoustic continuity, effectively removing the sealing problem while preserving the ability to access structures behind the panel when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The closure elements act as intermediaries between the acoustic panel and the structures behind it. They provide the necessary sealing function to maintain acoustic integrity while allowing access to be obtained when required by removing the closure elements.
3Ease of operation
If closure elements are made removable to allow access to structures behind the panel, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for removable and replaceable components
Solution Approach 1:
The acoustic treatment system is segmented into the main acoustic panel and separate removable closure elements. This segmentation allows the closure elements to be independently removed and replaced, providing ease of operation while keeping the overall system relatively simple through modular design.
Solution Approach 2:
The closure elements are designed to be removable and replaceable, allowing them to be discarded (removed) when access is needed and recovered (replaced) when no longer needed. This simple discard-and-recover mechanism provides ease of operation without requiring complex locking or actuation systems.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution maintains acoustic panel functionality and structural integrity by reducing acoustic losses and sealing discontinuities, facilitating easy access to underlying structures while preserving sound attenuation capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
the closure element further comprising a seal on the second face of the body capable of ensuring sealing with the acoustic panel
Implementation Method 2
the body being able to be inserted into the cavity and extending in the direction X between a first face and a second face... containing one or more acoustic cells
Implementation Method 3
the seal of the closure element is deformable between a rest or sealing position, in which the seal extends beyond the periphery of the body perpendicular to the direction X
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to an acoustic assembly (1) comprising a multi-cell acoustic panel (100) having at least one through-cavity (120) in a direction X, characterised in that the acoustic assembly (1) further comprises at least one sealing element (200) comprising a body (220) enclosing one or more acoustic cells (210), the body (220) being insertable into the cavity (120) and extending in the direction X between a first face (220a) and a second face (220b), the sealing element (200) further comprising a seal (240), on the second face (220b) of the body (220), which is capable of ensuring the sealing with the acoustic panel (100).