Annular Metallic Flat Gasket for Combustion Engine Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional metallic flat gaskets used in sealing systems face challenges such as material inefficiency, thermal expansion issues, and limited adaptability to movement, leading to non-tightness and corrosion when exposed to hot and aggressive fluids, particularly in combustion engines.
Innovation Solution
A sealing system featuring an annular metallic flat gasket with distinct edge areas and kinking sections, installed in an annular groove, allowing for rotational and tilting movements to maintain a permanent seal without the need for fastening means and using materials like stainless steel or nickel-based alloys.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a metallic flat gasket is installed over its full area between two parts, then the sealing coverage is improved, but the material consumption increases considerably
Solution Approach 1:
The gasket is segmented into a continuous peripheral sealing region and separate fastening hole regions. The peripheral region provides sealing coverage along the sealing line, while fastening holes are introduced to reduce material consumption. This segmentation allows the gasket to maintain sealing effectiveness while significantly reducing the amount of material required compared to a solid full-area gasket.
2Ease of operation
If the gasket extends over a large area to cover fastening passages, then the fastening function is improved, but thermal expansion differences cause position shifts and non-tightness
Solution Approach 1:
The gasket is divided into a continuous peripheral sealing region and separate fastening hole regions. The peripheral region maintains sealing coverage along the sealing line, while fastening holes are introduced to reduce material consumption. This segmentation allows the gasket to maintain sealing effectiveness while significantly reducing the amount of material required compared to a solid full-area gasket.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the gasket have different properties: the peripheral region is continuous and elastic to maintain sealing pressure, while the fastening hole regions are open to accommodate thermal expansion. This local differentiation allows each region to perform its specific function optimally without compromising the other.
3Reliability
If elastic sealing elements are preloaded in the elastic range, then the sealing reliability is improved, but the adaptability to movements of the sealing gap is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The gasket incorporates dynamic elements including bellows structures and deformable peripheral regions that can adapt to movements and misalignments of the sealing gap. These dynamic features allow the gasket to maintain sealing effectiveness while accommodating thermal expansion, vibration, and assembly variations, thus improving adaptability without compromising sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The gasket design utilizes changes in physical parameters such as elasticity, deformability, and geometric configuration to adapt to movement. The peripheral sealing region is designed with specific elastic properties that allow it to deform and conform to the sealing surfaces, maintaining sealing pressure under varying conditions while the fastening holes accommodate thermal expansion.
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
This design ensures a durable, efficient, and low-maintenance sealing solution that adapts to thermal variations and mechanical movements, preventing material fatigue and maintaining a tight seal across a wide temperature range.
Implementation Method 1
the edge areas (33, 35) are formed in such a way that in a non-compressed state of the parts, they facially rest at least in areas to the head of the groove or the ground of the groove
Implementation Method 2
an essential problem of this kind of gasket results from the different coefficients of thermal expansion of the parts to be sealed and the gasket
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a sealing system consisting of a first part and a second part and at least a passage opening extending in both parts, in particular a passage opening for fluids such as hot combustion gases from combustion engines as well as a corresponding metallic flat gasket such that the sealing system comprises or consists of a first part and a second part with the first part and the second part being compressed against each other at a joint contact surface and comprising at least one passage opening in the contact surface, which protrudes into the first and/or second part, an annular groove, which is delimited by the first and the second part and which encircles the passage opening, with the first and second part in the area at least radially outside of the groove come to rest one on the other.