Elastomer Insert with Swellable Zones for Pipe Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The branch pipe connection in drilled concrete walls is prone to leaks, particularly where house sewage enters the municipal sewer, necessitating an improved sealing solution to enhance reliability and structural integrity.
Innovation Solution
An elastomeric insert with circumferential zones of swellable material that reacts with water to seal gaps, combined with a soft-hard material pairing for adaptability and structural stability, and optional embedded additives for root prevention, ensuring a reliable and pressure-tight connection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If very soft elastomeric material is used for the insert, then adaptability to uneven concrete surfaces and manufacturing inaccuracies is improved, but structural weakness of the port connection occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The elastomeric insert is designed with non-uniform wall thickness, featuring a thicker reinforcement zone at the upstream end and a thinner zone at the downstream end. This local variation in material distribution provides enhanced structural strength where needed while maintaining overall adaptability to the concrete surface irregularities.
Solution Approach 2:
The insert combines elastomeric material with integrated reinforcement structures, creating a composite construction that merges the flexibility and sealing capability of elastomer with the structural strength of reinforcement elements, thereby resolving the contradiction between softness for adaptation and strength for structural integrity.
2Reliability
If the elastomeric insert is made softer for better sealing adaptation, then sealing performance is improved, but the connection becomes structurally weaker
Solution Approach 1:
The insert employs localized thickness variation with a thicker upstream section for structural support and a thinner downstream section for enhanced sealing contact, optimizing both connection strength and sealing reliability in different functional zones.
Solution Approach 2:
The combination of elastomeric material with reinforcement structures creates a composite system where the elastomer provides sealing compliance and the reinforcement provides structural strength, achieving both reliable sealing and strong connection simultaneously.
3Ease of manufacture
If uniform thickness is used for the elastomeric wall, then manufacturing is simplified, but adaptability to surface irregularities and structural strength are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The insert features non-uniform wall thickness with a thicker upstream end and thinner downstream end, optimized to provide structural strength where needed while enhancing sealing adaptability to concrete surface irregularities at the connection interface.
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 elastomeric insert effectively seals leaks over time through water-activated swellable material, adapts to uneven concrete surfaces, and maintains structural integrity, achieving a reliable and durable branch pipe connection.
Implementation Method 1
the elastomeric liner (1) contains circumferential zones (41) of swellable material that reacts with water to seal leaks at the drilled concrete wall or branch pipe connection
Implementation Method 2
The elastomeric insert is relatively soft in relation to the spigot in order to be more easily deformable for sealing purposes... the softer the material of the elastomeric insert, the easier it is to adapt to the counter-shape of the drilled concrete wall and the connecting piece
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
AI summary
The invention relates to an elastomer insert for an auxiliary pipe connector (2) in a pierced concrete wall (30) of a main pipeline (3), a shaft or similar. The elastomer insert (1) is embodied as a hollow stopper shape with an annular wall (10) and comprises a conical threaded section (17) on the inner surface (12). The elastomer annular wall (10) comprises circumferential zones with swellable material (41, 43), which reacts with water to seal off leaks in the pierced concrete wall (30) or on the auxiliary pipe connector (2).