Corrugated Pipe Retainer Structure for Shorter Joint Insertion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pipe joints require multiple members aligned along a center axis for engagement with flexible pipes, leading to increased length requirements and risk of failure if any member malfunctions, necessitating a solution for reduced insertion length and reliable engagement without additional member motions.
Innovation Solution
A retainer with a ring shape, featuring pawls, supports, and a deformable connector that absorbs displacement, allowing engagement with a corrugated pipe through the insertion of the flexible pipe alone, and includes a configuration with distinct sections to distribute torsion and bending forces, enhancing stability and retention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple members are arranged along a center axis for engagement, then the engagement between retainer and flexible pipe is achieved, but the length in the insertion direction increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functional members (pawls, supports, and connectors) into a single integrated retainer structure. The retainer includes multiple pawls that engage with the flexible pipe, supports that contact the pipe joint body, and connectors that link the pawls and supports, all formed as one piece. This integration eliminates the need for multiple separate members arranged along the center axis, thereby reducing the insertion length while maintaining reliable engagement.
Solution Approach 2:
The retainer structure transitions from a linear arrangement along the center axis to a three-dimensional configuration where pawls, supports, and connectors are arranged in multiple directions. The connectors link pawls and supports in combinations that extend in different directions, allowing the structure to achieve engagement reliability through spatial distribution rather than linear stacking, thus reducing the insertion length requirement.
2Reliability
If multiple members are arranged along a center axis, then engagement is achieved, but the risk of failure increases if any member malfunctions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple functional elements into a single retainer component. The retainer includes multiple pawls for engagement, multiple supports for contact with the pipe joint body, and connectors linking them, all formed as one integrated structure. This reduces the total number of separate members from several independent components to a single unified part, eliminating failure risks associated with multiple separate members while maintaining engagement reliability through the distributed functional elements within the integrated structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated retainer structure performs multiple functions simultaneously: the pawls engage with the flexible pipe, the supports contact the pipe joint body, and the connectors link them together. This single multi-functional component replaces what would otherwise require multiple separate members, each performing a specific function, thereby reducing device complexity and the risk of failure from multiple independent members while maintaining the same engagement reliability.
3Reliability
If connectors are made more deformable than pawls and supports, then the retainer can absorb displacement and prevent breakage, but the connector becomes the weaker link
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the connectors with higher deformability than the pawls and supports to act as a cushioning element that absorbs displacement and stress during engagement and operation. The connectors are intentionally made the weaker, more deformable link in the chain, allowing them to yield and absorb energy before the stronger pawls and supports would fail. This beforehand cushioning design prevents catastrophic failure of the entire retainer structure by sacrificing the connector's strength to protect the overall system reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different material or structural parameters to different parts of the retainer: the connectors are designed with parameters that make them more deformable (such as different material composition, cross-sectional geometry, or wall thickness) compared to the pawls and supports. This parameter differentiation allows the connectors to absorb displacement and stress while the pawls and supports maintain their strength for engagement and support functions, optimizing the overall reliability-strength balance.
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 enables stable and reliable engagement of the flexible pipe with reduced insertion length, improved retention, and enhanced durability by distributing forces effectively, preventing connector breakage and ensuring firm pipe retention.
Implementation Method 1
the connector is provided to be more deformable than the pawls and the supports... the connector is deformed to displace the pawl in a direction of moving away from the flexible pipe and to displace the support in a direction of moving away from the inner surface of the pipe joint body
Data Source
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AI summary
To provide a retainer allowing reduction in a length in a direction of insertion of a flexible pipe and capable of being engaged with the flexible pipe without requiring motions of other members. The retainer is a retainer having a shape of a ring and used in a pipe joint, including: a plurality of pawls for getting into a valley of a corrugated pipe of a flexible pipe to be inserted into the pipe joint; a plurality of supports for contacting an inner surface of a pipe joint body housing the retainer in the pipe joint, the supports being continuous with corresponding ones of the pawls as viewed in a direction of a center axis of the ring of the retainer; and a connector connecting the pawls and the supports in a plurality of combinations continuous with each other. The connector is provided to be more elastically deformable than the pawls and the supports.