Asymmetric Sanitary Clamp for Self-Retaining Flange Joining
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing clamps used to connect pipes with flanges tend to disengage and fall off when released, causing contamination and requiring frequent replacement, especially in clean environments like medical and pharmaceutical settings.
Innovation Solution
A clamp design with a first clamp segment that elastically deforms to capture more than 180 degrees of the pipe's perimeter, ensuring it stays engaged without manual force, featuring a hinge and locking mechanism with asymmetric teeth alignment to prevent disengagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional clamp is designed to engage flanges, then it can join pipes, but it tends to disengage and fall off when released
Solution Approach 1:
The clamp employs asymmetric teeth alignment where the first set of teeth on the first clamp segment aligns with corresponding teeth on the second clamp segment only in the closed position. This asymmetric configuration creates a mechanical interlock that prevents the clamp from disengaging when released, directly resolving the reliability issue without requiring continuous manual holding.
Solution Approach 2:
The clamp's asymmetric teeth design enables it to self-retain on the flanges without requiring continuous manual force. Once closed, the aligned teeth create a self-locking mechanism that maintains engagement automatically, allowing the user to release the clamp while it remains securely fastened to the pipes.
2Productivity
If the clamp disengages and falls off, then the joining process is interrupted, but contamination occurs and replacement is required
Solution Approach 1:
The asymmetric teeth configuration ensures that the clamp can only engage in one orientation and remains locked in place once closed. This prevents the clamp from accidentally disengaging and falling to the floor, thereby maintaining process continuity and eliminating contamination risks associated with dropped clamps in clean environments.
3Reliability
If the clamp is designed to stay engaged without manual force, then reliability improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The asymmetric teeth alignment provides a simple yet effective mechanical interlock that enables automatic retention. Rather than adding complex locking mechanisms or multiple components, the invention uses the geometric asymmetry of the teeth themselves to create the self-retaining feature, thus achieving improved reliability without significantly increasing device complexity.
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 clamp effectively retains the flanges without manual force, reducing contamination risks and the need for frequent replacements by maintaining secure engagement even when the user releases their grip.
Implementation Method 1
the first clamp segment is sized to allow a user to elastically deform to expand a first distance from the first hinge portion to the first locking portion
Data Source
AI summary
A clamp with two segments and a process for applying a first clamp segment to a pair of flanges for adjacent fluid flow elements so that the first clamp segment is retained by the pair of flanges after application. Steps including 1) aligning a first flange with a second flange to form the pair of flanges; and 2) elastically deforming the first clamp segment to capture into the first clamp segment an arc of more than 180 degrees of the pair of flanges with the arc being sufficiently more than 180 degrees that after capture of the pair of flanges that the first clamp segment cannot be disengaged from the pair of flanges without application of sufficient force to elastically deform the first clamp segment to expand sufficiently to allow removal of the pair of flanges. Otherwise the first clamp segment is retained.