Adapter Flange With Internal Elastic Gasket for Pipe Tapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing adapter flange technologies face challenges in achieving reliable sealing and easy installation, particularly when connecting secondary pipes to main pipes with irregular surfaces or shapes, requiring extensive cleaning and precise hole configurations, which is complicated and costly, especially for corrugated pipes and large diameters.
Innovation Solution
An adapter flange design that seals internally against the pipe's wall, using a deformable internal element with a reinforcement for rigidity and a flexible gasket to ensure tightness, allowing for easy installation and removal by modulating its size through folding, and accommodating various hole shapes without external clamps or precise surface cleaning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If clamping collars are installed around the pipe to press the adapter flange against the external wall, then sealing is ensured, but the installation becomes complicated and time-consuming requiring freeing of the entire pipe circumference
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional sealing approach by moving the sealing interface from the external wall to the internal wall of the pipe. The adapter flange is inserted through a hole in the pipe and seals against the internal wall surface, eliminating the need for external clamping collars and extensive external surface preparation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a gasket (flexible element) that can deform to adapt to the internal wall surface of the pipe. This flexible gasket ensures sealing effectiveness even when the internal surface is not perfectly smooth, while simplifying the overall sealing mechanism compared to rigid external clamping systems.
2Reliability
If thorough cleaning of the outer surface of the pipe is performed, then good sealing is ensured, but the installation process becomes longer and more expensive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent shifts the sealing location from the external wall to the internal wall, thereby eliminating the need for extensive external surface cleaning and preparation. The gasket seals against the internal wall surface which requires minimal preparation.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible gasket can conform to the internal wall surface irregularities, providing effective sealing without requiring the internal surface to be perfectly smooth or extensively prepared, thus reducing installation time and costs.
3Ease of operation
If the internal element is made deformable to fit into the hole, then insertion is facilitated, but the element must be sufficiently rigid to not deform when the adapter flange is installed
Solution Approach 1:
The gasket is designed with dynamic properties - it is deformable during insertion to pass through the hole, then becomes rigid when compressed between the adapter flange and the pipe internal wall, providing both insertion ease and structural stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The gasket utilizes flexible material properties to enable insertion through deformation, while the compression force from the adapter flange assembly maintains it in a rigid, seal-effective state during operation.
4Reliability
If a perfectly circular hole with precisely defined diameter is made, then mechanical retention is ensured, but the process becomes more complicated and costly especially for large diameters
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible gasket can adapt to various hole shapes and size tolerances, providing effective sealing and mechanical retention without requiring perfectly circular holes with precise diameters, thereby simplifying the hole fabrication process.
Solution Approach 2:
The gasket's deformability allows it to accommodate a range of hole parameters (shape, size, circularity) that would otherwise be unacceptable, effectively changing the tolerance parameters required for successful installation.
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
Facilitates quick and reliable sealing and connection of secondary pipes to main pipes, reducing installation time and costs, and accommodating diverse pipe configurations, including corrugated pipes, without compromising mechanical strength or requiring precise surface preparation.
Implementation Method 1
The gasket is configured to seal against the internal wall of the pipe
Implementation Method 2
The first internal element comprises a reinforcement which provides the desired rigidity of the first internal element
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The invention relates to an adapter flange (1) for a pipe (3) having a through orifice that defines a flow section. The adapter flange (1) comprises an internal part (2) in contact with the inner wall (3a) of the pipe (3) and fixed to the outer wall (3b) of the pipe (3) by means (7) for fixing the internal part (2). The internal part (2) comprises a reinforcement (5) having a first curved face (5a) configured to contact the inner wall (3a) of the pipe (3). The reinforcement (5) comprises an elastic deformation zone (6) configured to allow the reinforcement (5) to tilt between a first position where the internal part (2) has a first cross-section larger than the flow section and a second position where the internal part (2) has a first cross-section smaller than the flow section.The inner part (2) includes a seal (4) covering at least partially one face of the reinforcement (5) and arranged to contact the inner wall (3a) of the pipe (3) and continuously surround the through orifice. The seal (4) continuously covers the lateral wall and the second face of the reinforcement (5) so as to separate the reinforcement (5) from any effluent flowing in the pipe (3).