Dome Cover Reach-Around Element Pressure Lock
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dome cover assemblies for tanks or vessels fail to prevent opening when pressure exceeds a predetermined limit, leading to potential safety and operational issues, especially when the dome cover is automatically openable and closable.
Innovation Solution
A dome cover assembly with a flange and cover that features a reach-around element and recess design, where the reach-around element engages behind the recess to prevent rotation and opening, utilizing a sealing mechanism to maintain pressure and ensure the cover remains closed under excessive pressure conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the dome cover is designed to be automatically openable and closable, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates because the cover may open accidentally when pressure exceeds predetermined limits
Solution Approach 1:
The reach-around element is pre-positioned to engage with the recess in a manner that creates preliminary resistance against pressure-induced opening. The geometric configuration of the reach-around element and recess is designed such that the engagement creates a mechanical interlock that must be overcome before the cover can rotate open, thereby preventing accidental opening due to pressure fluctuations.
Solution Approach 2:
The reach-around element and recess are designed with asymmetric geometric configurations that create different engagement characteristics for opening versus closing operations. The asymmetric design allows easy rotation in the closing direction while creating significant resistance in the opening direction, thereby enabling automatic closing while preventing accidental opening under pressure.
2Reliability
If the reach-around element engages deeply in the recess to prevent opening, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional structural features
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of making the entire dome cover structure complex, the invention applies local quality by concentrating the anti-opening function in specific localized features: the reach-around element on the cover and the corresponding recess on the flange. These localized geometric features provide the necessary reliability without requiring complex mechanisms throughout the entire structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Rather than adding complex locking mechanisms to prevent opening, the invention inverts the approach by designing the cover and flange geometries themselves to create the preventing action. The reach-around element and recess are integrated into the basic structural forms of the cover and flange, turning the structural elements themselves into the anti-opening mechanism rather than adding separate complex components.
Data Source
AI summary
A dome cover assembly for automatically opening and closing a through-opening. The dome cover includes at least one reach-around element on one of a cover and flange. The reach-around element at least partially encloses, in a first rotational position, the other of the cover and the flange on a side facing away from the first element. The other of the cover and flange has a recess and, in the first rotational position, the reach-around element engages behind the recess in a first distanced position of the cover and the flange. The reach-around element does not engage behind the recess in a second closer position of the cover and the flange.