Explosion-Proof Housing Pressure Relief With Sacrificial Limit Member
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electrical devices with internal components such as capacitors, switches, and relays are prone to intense pressure buildup and potential explosions during short-circuit faults, which can lead to housing rupture and increased maintenance costs.
Innovation Solution
An explosion-proof housing design featuring a first and second housing body connected by a fastener and a limit member with a weakened connection portion, allowing for automatic pressure relief by creating a gap between the housing bodies when pressure increases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the housing structure is made robust and sealed to prevent explosion, then safety and reliability are improved, but pressure relief capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a limit member with a weakened connection portion as a preliminary safety measure. This limit member is pre-installed between the first and second housing bodies with a predetermined breaking point. When internal pressure exceeds a safe threshold, the weakened connection portion automatically breaks, creating a relief channel to release pressure. This preliminary action prevents pressure buildup before it becomes dangerous, resolving the contradiction between maintaining a sealed robust structure and enabling pressure relief.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the potentially harmful effect of internal pressure into a beneficial automatic safety mechanism. The limit member is designed to break at a specific pressure threshold, transforming the harmful pressure buildup into a controlled pressure relief event. When the weakened connection portion breaks, it creates an intentional failure point that safely releases pressure, converting the harmful force into a protective function that prevents catastrophic housing failure.
2Strength
If the housing structure is made robust to prevent rupture, then strength is improved, but pressure relief capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The limit member with its weakened connection portion is pre-installed as a sacrificial element between the housing bodies. This preliminary action creates a predetermined failure point that will break before the main housing structure fails. The weakened connection portion is designed with reduced strength compared to the housing bodies, ensuring it breaks first under pressure, thereby protecting the overall housing strength while enabling pressure relief.
Solution Approach 2:
The limit member acts as a disposable sacrificial component designed to break under excessive pressure. Rather than risking damage to the expensive and critical housing structures, the patent uses a simple, replaceable limit member that absorbs the stress of pressure relief events. This disposable element protects the main housing strength while providing necessary pressure relief capability.
3Object-generated harmful factors
If the limit member is designed to break under pressure for relief, then pressure relief capability is improved, but structural stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating a weakened connection portion only in the limit member, not throughout the entire housing structure. The limit member itself has non-uniform strength distribution, with the weakened portion strategically located to break first. This localized weakness in the limit member provides pressure relief capability without compromising the overall structural stability of the housing bodies and fastener assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The limit member is designed as a disposable component with a predetermined breaking point. Its structural stability is intentionally reduced at the weakened connection portion to enable pressure relief. This sacrificial element maintains adequate stability during normal operation but is designed to fail in a controlled manner when pressure exceeds thresholds, providing pressure relief without permanently compromising the main housing structure.
4Strength
If the fastener is designed to securely connect housing bodies, then connection strength is improved, but pressure relief capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the connection system into two parts: the fastener that provides strong secure connection between housing bodies, and the limit member that provides a weaker predetermined failure point. The fastener maintains strong connection strength for structural integrity, while the separately installed limit member with its weakened connection portion enables pressure relief. This segmentation allows both strong connection and pressure relief capability to coexist.
Solution Approach 2:
The limit member acts as an intermediary element between the fastener and the housing bodies. It is disposed between the first mounting hole and the fastener, creating a buffer zone with a predetermined breaking point. This intermediary provides a sacrificial failure point that relieves pressure before it can compromise the strong fastener connection or housing structures, enabling both secure connection and pressure relief.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure discloses an explosion-proof housing and an electrical device. The explosion-proof housing includes a first housing body, a second housing body, a fastener, and a limit member. The first housing body has a first mounting hole. The second housing body covers the first housing body and has a second mounting hole. The fastener passes through the first mounting hole and the second mounting hole to connect the first housing body to the second housing body. The limit member is disposed between the first mounting hole and the fastener and has a first state and a second state. In the first state, the limit member is adapted to limit a limit head of the fastener outside the first mounting hole. In the second state, at least part of the limit member is disengaged from the limit head to allow the limit head to enter into the first mounting hole.