Bunker Drainage System with Tapered Cap and Filter Screen
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Solution Overview
Problem
Golf course bunkers experience poor rainwater drainage due to their hollowed nature, leading to prolonged drying times and frequent 'takeout of play' issues, with existing drainage systems often becoming blocked by sand, increasing maintenance workload.
Innovation Solution
A drainage system featuring a tubular cap and drainpipe design with a tapered cross-sectional area, a weir portion, and a coupling portion to prevent sand entry while ensuring efficient water flow, including a seal member and locator element for installation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a small aperture is used to restrict sand entry, then sand blockage is reduced, but water flow rate decreases requiring more drainage time
Solution Approach 1:
The drainage system is segmented into multiple functional components: a drainpipe with lateral openings for water intake, a filter screen to separate sand from water, and a tapered cap structure. This segmentation allows each component to specialize in one function, enabling the system to both restrict sand entry and maintain high water flow rates simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
A filter screen is introduced as an intermediary element between the lateral openings and the drainpipe interior. This mediator allows water to pass through while blocking sand particles, resolving the contradiction between maintaining open apertures for high flow and restricting sand entry.
2Productivity
If existing drainage systems are installed to improve drainage rate, then water drainage speed increases, but sand blockage frequency increases requiring more maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The filter screen and tapered cap design enable the system to self-clean by allowing water to flow through while automatically blocking sand particles. The tapered geometry facilitates easy removal and cleaning of accumulated sand, reducing maintenance workload while maintaining high drainage rates.
3Ease of repair
If bunkers are left to drain naturally to prevent sand blockage, then maintenance workload is reduced, but drainage time increases taking bunkers out of play longer
Solution Approach 1:
The drainage system is pre-installed with filter screens and tapered caps before bunker operation. This preliminary action prevents sand blockage from occurring in the first place, enabling rapid drainage without requiring subsequent maintenance interventions, thus reducing both maintenance workload and bunker downtime.
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 system effectively drains rainwater from bunkers with minimal sand blockage, reducing downtime and maintenance efforts by allowing water to enter while preventing sand from entering the drainpipe, thus maintaining bunker playability.
Implementation Method 1
The channel has a tapered cross-sectional area which reduces the velocity of fluid flowing through the channel from the lower end to the upper end such that sand or other matter drops out of the fluid as it rises up through the channel
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A drainage system (1300) comprising a cap (1302) having one or more sidewalls defining a recess (1326) and a body (1304). The body (1304) comprises an inlet at a first end (1312) of the body (1304), receivable within the recess (1326) of the cap (1302), an outlet at a second end (1384) of the body (1304), and a passage (1310) to allow fluid flow from the inlet to the outlet. The system (1300) further comprises a spacer arrangement (1306) to space the body (1304) from the cap (1302) when the inlet is received in the recess (1326) of the cap (1302), so as to form a channel to allow fluid flow to the inlet between an outer surface of the body (1304) and an inner surface of the cap (1302).