Custom Pipe Seal With Roughened Bonding Surface for Leak Prevention
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pipe seals are limited in size and shape, making them unsuitable for various plumbing fixtures and pipes, and they often fail to form a secure seal due to smooth surfaces that do not allow adequate adhesive bonding, leading to potential leaks and delamination.
Innovation Solution
A customizable pipe seal made from a soft, flexible material with a roughened surface for improved adhesive bonding, allowing expansion and contraction, and featuring markings for standard pipe sizes and shapes, enabling it to be tailored to specific applications and securely fit around pipes and fittings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a smooth surface is used on the pipe seal, then the seal material can conform to the pipe shape, but adhesive bonding is insufficient leading to delamination
Solution Approach 1:
The pipe seal incorporates a roughened surface layer specifically at the adhesive bonding interface, while the bulk material remains soft and flexible. This local quality change provides mechanical interlocking for adhesives without compromising the overall conformability of the seal to the pipe shape.
2Ease of manufacture
If a fixed size and shape pipe seal is manufactured, then production is simplified, but it cannot accommodate various pipe and fitting sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The pipe seal is designed with dynamic adaptability through its soft, flexible material composition that allows it to deform and conform to different pipe diameters and shapes. The roughened surface layer maintains structural integrity while permitting this dynamic adaptation to various geometries.
3Shape
If a soft flexible material is used for the pipe seal, then it can conform to pipe shapes, but it lacks structural support for secure attachment
Solution Approach 1:
The pipe seal utilizes a composite structure combining a soft flexible base material for conformability with a roughened surface layer for enhanced adhesive bonding. This composite approach integrates the advantages of both material types: the soft material provides shape adaptation while the roughened surface provides mechanical interlocking strength.
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 customizable pipe seal ensures a watertight seal across various applications by providing a higher surface area for adhesive bonding, preventing delamination and leakage, and accommodating different pipe and fitting sizes and shapes through user customization.
Implementation Method 1
a rough surface may be imprinted onto one or all sides of the pipe seal apparatus. The rough surface may be imprinted into the interior portion of the body and the front and back sides. An adhesive sealant may be used along the rough surface at the pipe penetration. The roughness of the surface may provide a higher overall surface area for an adhesive to bond to, creating a stronger bond and preventing delamination.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for sealing a hole or a shape in a surface, which, in an exemplary embodiment, may take the form of a sheet of a soft material containing an interior hole, an exterior surface, a top lip, and an outer area. It may likewise be contemplated for the sealing apparatus to feature a bottom lip. Part of the apparatus may be roughened or have a rough surface attached thereto, which may be imprinted into the interior portion of the body and the exterior portion of the body and the top lip, or both. An adhesive pipe sealant may be used along the rough surface and bonded to the increased surface area of the roughened region.