Elastic Strand Seal for Wooden Windows
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing extruded seals for windows and doors, particularly those with constant-width grooves, face challenges in achieving a central and stable fit due to deformation and wavy course issues when inserted, as they lack sufficient rigidity and frictional resistance in grooves of uniform width.
Innovation Solution
The extruded seal features a central web of harder material with projections at an acute angle and surrounded by soft elastomeric foam, which provides additional lateral support and frictional contact, ensuring a central and stable fit by compressing laterally and evenly, preventing unwanted deformation during insertion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the seal foot is made of soft elastomeric foam to ensure tight fit in the retaining groove, then the seal can be easily compressed into the groove, but the seal foot deforms severely and sits wavy in the groove, losing stability
Solution Approach 1:
The seal foot combines soft elastomeric foam material with a harder central web structure. The soft foam provides ease of compression and insertion, while the harder central web maintains structural integrity and prevents excessive deformation, ensuring the seal sits flat and stable in the groove without waviness.
Solution Approach 2:
The central web is made of harder material specifically in the region where it contacts the groove bottom and sides, while the rest of the seal foot remains soft elastomeric foam. This local differentiation allows the contact areas to resist deformation and provide stable positioning, while the softer regions facilitate easy compression and insertion.
2Stability of the object's composition
If the profile foot is made of harder material to maintain shape and prevent deformation, then the seal remains stable, but the frictional forces during insertion increase and the seal does not fit tightly in the groove
Solution Approach 1:
The seal foot uses a composite construction with soft elastomeric foam as the base material and a harder central web embedded within it. The soft foam reduces friction during insertion and ensures tight fit, while the harder central web provides structural stability and prevents deformation upon contact with the groove surfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The harder material is localized to the central web that contacts the groove bottom and sides, while the surrounding elastomeric foam remains soft. This allows the contact regions to provide stability without increasing overall friction, as the soft foam maintains low-friction contact with the groove walls during insertion.
3Ease of manufacture
If the seal foot is made of uniform material throughout, then the manufacturing is simple, but the seal cannot achieve both easy insertion and stable central positioning in the groove
Solution Approach 1:
The seal foot is manufactured as a composite structure with soft elastomeric foam and a harder central web integrated together. This can be achieved through co-extrusion or embedding processes, providing both easy insertion (via soft foam) and reliable central seating (via harder web contact with groove surfaces) in a single integrated component.
Solution Approach 2:
The harder material is strategically positioned in the central web where contact with the groove occurs, while the rest of the foot remains uniformly soft. This localized differentiation can be implemented through controlled manufacturing processes such as inserting a pre-formed hard web into a foam matrix or using multi-layer extrusion, achieving reliable central seating without significantly complicating manufacturing.
4Stability of the object's composition
If the seal foot has increased frictional resistance to prevent slipping out, then the seal remains stable, but the insertion becomes more difficult and requires excessive force
Solution Approach 1:
The harder central web is positioned to contact the groove bottom and sides at specific locations that provide mechanical interlocking or increased friction only after insertion, while the soft elastomeric foam maintains low-friction contact during the insertion process. This allows easy insertion followed by stable positioning that prevents slipping out.
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
This design ensures a well-centered and stable fit of the seal over the entire length of the groove, preventing a wavy course and enhancing the seal's resistance to slipping out, while maintaining low frictional forces during insertion.
Implementation Method 1
the softer elastomeric foam areas are compressed from the side walls of the retaining groove when it is pushed into the retaining groove and, because of the soft elastomeric foam, are slightly compressed laterally and evenly
Implementation Method 2
the projections of the central web come into frictional contact with the side surfaces of the same when the extruded seal is inserted into the retaining groove
Data Source
Figure 1~4
Figure 2~3
AI summary
The flexible seal (1) comprises a head area (2), from which a profile base protrudes outwards for anchoring a flexible seal in a retaining groove of a retaining frame. An area (10) made of elastomer foam of the profile base forms an outward directed curvature (11) protruding over the nominal width of the retaining groove on both sides of a central bar (6) in an area formed over the longitudinal stretch. The total thickness of the profile base reduces from its curvature in a direction towards the end of the profile base.