Chain Mail Flap Valve Structure for High-Pressure Core Barrel Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing core barrel sealing structures, particularly those using ball valves, face challenges in maintaining high pressure due to leakage and complex designs, while flap valves have poor sealing performance at low pressures and limited adaptability.
Innovation Solution
A core barrel sealing structure incorporating a chain mail-type flap valve with a deformable flap and a trigger mechanism, which includes a valve seat, elastic connecting strips, and a trigger spring, allowing for automatic sealing adjustment and high success rate matching, enhancing sealing-specific pressure and reliability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a ball valve is used to seal the lower end of the pressure keeping barrel, then the sealing performance can be improved, but the structure becomes complex and occupies large space
Solution Approach 1:
The valve flap is divided into multiple locking strips (at least three) connected by elastic connecting strips, creating a segmented chain mail structure. This segmentation allows the valve to maintain sealing performance while reducing structural complexity and occupying less space compared to a traditional ball valve.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a flexible chain mail-type valve flap made of elastic connecting strips and locking strips that can deform to match the valve seat contour. This flexible structure achieves reliable sealing without the complex rigid structure of a ball valve, resolving the contradiction between sealing performance and structural complexity.
2Reliability
If a ball valve is used for sealing, then sealing performance can be improved, but the space occupied increases limiting the drilled core diameter
Solution Approach 1:
The segmented chain mail structure of the valve flap allows it to collapse into a compact form when opened and expand to seal tightly when closed. This segmentation enables the valve to occupy minimal space during operation while maintaining effective sealing performance, directly addressing the space constraint issue.
Solution Approach 2:
The valve flap transitions from a static rigid structure to a dynamic flexible structure that can deform and adapt its shape. The elastic connecting strips allow the locking strips to move and adjust, enabling the valve to achieve sealing in a compact configuration rather than requiring large fixed space.
3Device complexity
If a fixed shape valve flap is used, then the structure is simple, but the matching success rate is low and sealing performance is poor at low sealing-specific pressure
Solution Approach 1:
The valve flap transforms from a fixed rigid structure to a dynamic flexible structure composed of elastic connecting strips and locking strips. This dynamic structure can deform to match the valve seat contour automatically, significantly improving the matching success rate and sealing performance without substantially increasing structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical parameters of the valve flap by introducing elasticity through elastic connecting strips. This parameter change allows the valve to adapt its shape and maintain effective sealing contact under varying pressure conditions, including low sealing-specific pressure, while keeping the overall structure relatively simple.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the valve flap is made deformable with multiple locking strips, then the matching success rate increases, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The valve flap is segmented into multiple locking strips connected by elastic connecting strips, forming a chain mail structure. This segmentation enables the valve to deform and adapt to the valve seat contour, significantly improving matching success rate. The modular segmented design actually simplifies manufacturing compared to creating a single complex deformable component.
Solution Approach 2:
The chain mail-type valve flap uses flexible elastic connecting strips to create a deformable structure that can adapt to the valve seat. This flexible structure achieves high adaptability and matching success rate while maintaining relatively simple construction, as each locking strip and connecting strip is a simple component that can be manufactured independently.
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 structure achieves reliable sealing performance by automatically adjusting the valve flap's position, maintaining high pressure without leakage, and ensuring a high success rate of matching, thus effectively increasing sealing-specific pressure.
Implementation Method 1
The valve flap includes an elastic sealing ring... the valve flap has a deformable flap... automatically adjusting the valve flap's position
Implementation Method 2
The trigger mechanism comprises a trigger inner barrel and a trigger block... the bottom of the trigger inner barrel is pressed against the valve flap... increasing sealing-specific pressure
Implementation Method 3
the elastic connecting strip connects all the locking strips in series, and the elastic sealing ring hoops all the locking strips together, to form an integral structure
Data Source
AI summary
A core barrel sealing structure includes a core barrel, a drilling machine outer barrel, a chain mail-type flap valve and a trigger mechanism. The flap valve includes a valve seat and a chain mail-type valve flap. The trigger mechanism includes a trigger inner barrel and a trigger block. The trigger block is arranged in a through hole in a sidewall of the trigger inner barrel, and an inner wall of the drilling machine outer barrel is provided with a recessed opening adapted to the trigger block. When the core barrel is located in the valve seat, the valve flap is opened by 90° and is located between the trigger inner barrel and the drilling machine outer barrel. When the core barrel is lifted upwards, the valve flap returns to a top face of the valve seat to make sealing contact with a sealing face of a valve opening.