Anisotropic Cable Sealing Gel Structure for Leak and Creep Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cable sealing gels suffer from 'eye effect' and 'tent effect' issues, where portions of the cable are not properly sealed, leading to potential leakage points and gel creep, respectively, due to competing needs for softness and containment.
Innovation Solution
Anisotropic sealing structures with embedded reinforcing materials that provide internal spring-like characteristics, allowing controlled deformation in specific directions to prevent leakage while maintaining seal integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a softer gel is used to allow good flow around the cable to fill potential leakage points, then sealing effectiveness is improved, but the gel may creep outwardly sideways leading to loss of pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines a softer gel material with a reinforcing structure to create a composite sealing body. The gel provides the necessary softness and flowability to fill leakage points, while the reinforcing structure prevents excessive creep and maintains pressure containment.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing body has non-uniform properties with different regions having different characteristics. The gel material is softer in regions needing flowability while the reinforcing structure is strategically placed to provide containment where needed, creating local quality variations that resolve the contradiction.
2Reliability
If gel blocks are made softer to create a better seal about the cable, then the eye effect is reduced, but the tent effect occurs due to gel creep
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a composite structure combining soft gel with reinforcing elements. The gel provides the softness needed to eliminate eye effect and fill triple points, while the reinforcing structure counteracts tent effect by preventing lateral creep.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical parameters of the sealing body by incorporating reinforcing materials that alter the gel's effective modulus and creep resistance, allowing the gel to be sufficiently soft for sealing while resistant to harmful creep.
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 anisotropic sealing structures effectively seal cables by minimizing leakage points and gel creep, ensuring uniform sealing without overloading or damaging the cable, even with varying diameters.
Implementation Method 1
Gel seals are often pressurized under spring load to encourage the gel to deform or flow into void areas to provide effective sealing
Implementation Method 2
Gel seals are often pressurized under spring load to encourage the gel to deform or flow into void areas
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects and techniques of the present disclosure relate to a cable sealing structure comprising a cable sealing body including a gel and methods of making anisotropic behavior in cable sealing structures made with a dry silicone gel. In one aspect, various three-dimensional printing techniques are used to make a cable sealing structure that includes a gel. The cable sealing body has a construction that elastically deforms to apply an elastic spring load to the gel. The cable sealing body has a construction with anisotropic deformation characteristics that allows the cable sealing body to be less deformable in one direction than in others. The cable sealing structure can be utilized to seal fiber optic cables more uniformly while limiting the potential of leakage.