Coupling Seal With Guide Groove For Fast Cleaning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current coupling closures and docking devices for decanting, filling, and emptying containers require extensive disassembly for thorough cleaning, which is time-consuming, laborious, and costly, especially when handling toxic substances, and do not ensure maximum contamination-free transfer.
Innovation Solution
A coupling closure with a pivoting closing flap and partial shafts or stubs featuring complementary guide grooves and rails that prevent axial movement, allowing for form-fitting engagement and secure connection, along with a fastening module that minimizes components for easy assembly and disassembly, ensuring reliable and safe bulk material transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional coupling closures are used for toxic bulk material transfer, then environmental isolation is achieved, but complete disassembly and thorough cleaning of all functional elements is still required, which is time-consuming and laborious
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling closure is divided into separable components: a first half-closure with a first closing flap and a second half-closure with a second closing flap. These halves can be separated from each other, allowing each to be cleaned independently without requiring complete disassembly of the entire docking device. The segmentation enables thorough cleaning of previously inaccessible areas while reducing overall cleaning time.
Solution Approach 2:
The closing flaps are extracted as separate, removable components from the docking device structure. Each closing flap can be removed from its bearing, allowing direct access to and cleaning of the bearing surfaces and internal areas that would otherwise be difficult to reach. This extraction enables thorough decontamination without requiring complete dismantling of the entire system.
2Reliability
If conventional coupling closures are used, then environmental isolation is maintained, but complete disassembly for cleaning is complex and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The docking device is segmented into modular half-closures that can be independently separated and cleaned. This segmentation reduces disassembly complexity by allowing targeted removal of only the affected components rather than complete dismantling, while still maintaining the ability to achieve thorough cleaning for contamination-free operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The closing flaps are designed with dynamic, movable connections through bearings that allow easy separation and reassembly. The pivotable connection enables the flaps to be removed from their operational position for cleaning, then easily returned to their functional position, reducing the complexity and time required for disassembly and reassembly compared to fixed connections.
3Reliability
If more components are used in coupling closures, then secure connection and sealing are improved, but cleaning access and ease of disassembly are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling closure uses segmented half-closures with separate closing flaps that can be independently removed for cleaning. This segmentation maintains secure connection during operation through the bearing pivots, while enabling easy access to all surfaces for cleaning, including previously inaccessible bearing areas and flange surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The dynamic pivot connections allow the closing flaps to be easily removed from and reattached to the bearings during cleaning operations. This dynamic design maintains secure operational connection when assembled, while enabling simple disassembly for cleaning access, resolving the contradiction between connection security and cleaning ease.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a coupling closure for a docking device for, in particular, environmentally insulated, transferring, filling or emptying containers or conveying devices, comprising a closure side and a container side, comprising a pipe stub and a closing flap pivotably mounted therein about an axis, comprising an end face facing the closure side in the closed position, wherein the closing flap is mounted on at least one side, in particular on both sides, along the axis with a partial shaft or a partial shaft stub in a bearing open towards the closure side, in particular comprising a bearing shell, wherein the partial shaft(s) or shaft stub is/are suitable to be connected to complementary partial shafts or-shaft stub of a further, complementary coupling closure to form a shaft or a shaft stub, characterized in that at least one partial shaft or at least one partial shaft stub has in the end face, preferably both partial shafts or shaft stubs, at least one semicircular, in particular semicircular, guide groove, the opposite ends of which extend to the bearing surface for a complementary partial shaft or shaft stub.a complementary partial shaft stub of a further coupling closure, and that the bearing open towards the closure side has at least one partially circular, in particular semicircular, guide rail pointing into the interior of the pipe stub, which is essentially complementary to the guide groove in the end face of the partial shaft or the partial shaft stub, wherein the guide groove and the guide rail complementary to it are suitable and designed to engage positively when pivoting the closing flap from the closed position to the open position, and/or that the bearing open towards the closure side has at least one partially circular, in particular semicircular, guide groove pointing into the interior of the pipe stub, the opposite ends of which each extend to or into the area of the bearing surface for a complementary partial shaft ora complementary partial shaft stub of a further coupling closure, and that at least one partial shaft or at least one partial shaft stub in the end face, preferably both partial shafts or shaft stubs, has at least one partially circular, in particular semicircular, guide rail which is essentially complementary to the guide groove in the bearing, wherein the guide groove and the guide rail complementary thereto are suitable and designed to engage positively when the closing flap pivots from the closed position to the open position. Furthermore, the invention relates to at least one coupling closure according to the invention.