Corrosion Resistant Fastener Isolation System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Corrosion of fasteners connecting equipment to wooden supports in marine environments is accelerated by voltage differences between earth and personnel safety grounds, leading to structural failure and safety risks, as existing solutions require monitoring, power sources, or compromise safety grounds.
Innovation Solution
Electrically and chemically isolating fasteners within quasi-conductive materials using insulating tubes and spacers, ensuring resistance to mechanical shock and chemicals, and verifying isolation through resistance measurements, to prevent corrosion and breakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If electrical insulation is installed between the boat lift and support brackets, then corrosion of fasteners is reduced, but current can still flow through the wooden structure and other grounded items causing fastener failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the electrical isolation system into multiple segments: insulating fasteners, insulating support brackets, and insulating washers. Each component provides electrical isolation at a different location in the assembly, creating multiple barriers to current flow through the wooden piling.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces non-conductive intermediate materials (insulating fasteners, brackets, and washers) between the metal boat lift components and the wooden piling. These intermediaries break the electrical continuity between the safety-grounded metal structure and the earth-grounded wooden support, preventing galvanic corrosion.
2Reliability
If sacrificial anode material is used to mitigate corrosion, then fastener protection is improved, but the anode material requires monitoring and periodic replacement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs insulating fasteners and brackets that passively prevent corrosion through their non-conductive properties. The system is self-maintaining as long as the insulating materials remain intact, eliminating the need for periodic replacement of sacrificial anodes or monitoring of fastener corrosion rates.
3Reliability
If modulated current or triggerable solid state devices are used to equalize ground voltages, then corrosion is reduced, but power sources and special controls are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the need for active electrical control systems by using passive non-conductive materials. The insulating fasteners and brackets inherently block current flow without requiring power sources, controllers, or monitoring systems to equalize ground voltages.
4Reliability
If two bolts are used with one designed to fail first, then structural safety is improved, but the bolts require monitoring and periodic replacement
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses insulating fasteners that prevent corrosion at the source, eliminating the need for sacrificial design approaches where one bolt is intended to fail first. Both fasteners are protected equally, and the system requires no monitoring or preventive replacement.
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 solution significantly extends the corrosion lifetime of fasteners to over 30,000 years, reducing the risk of structural failure and ensuring safety by effectively isolating fasteners from voltage differences, even under heavy loads and exposure to weather.
Implementation Method 1
electrically and chemically isolating the fastener from the material in which it is embedded
Implementation Method 2
The piling, typically pressure treated wood, tends to wick water and exhibit moderate electrical conductivity
Data Source
AI summary
An object of this invention is to prevent the collapse of structures such as boat lifts, where the collapse is caused by corrosion of metal fasteners inside conductive material such as moist wood in the presence of ground voltage differences, and where the corrosion is prevented by blocking current from flowing through the fasteners.