Facade Fluid-Passage Sealing Without External Scaffolding
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Solution Overview
Problem
The installation of heat pump systems and suction-blowing outlets in buildings often requires external scaffolding, leading to air infiltration and water runoff issues, which degrade the building facade and complicate the sealing process.
Innovation Solution
A tubular duct with a sealing device featuring a connection means, elastic intermediate means, and a sealing member that deforms to allow insertion and secure contact with the facade, eliminating the need for external scaffolding and ensuring tightness through a second duct and locking mechanism.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If external scaffolding is used for facade work, then sealing quality is improved, but installation cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing device is inserted from the interior of the building and deployed outward through the facade opening, reversing the conventional approach of working from the exterior. This inversion eliminates the need for scaffolding while maintaining sealing quality, as the device self-deploys from the protected interior environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing device is self-deploying through the elastic means that automatically extend the connecting means to push the sealing element against the exterior facade. The system performs its own installation function without requiring external scaffolding or complex installation equipment, achieving both interior installation simplicity and exterior sealing effectiveness.
2Ease of operation
If a single-hole system is used for heat pump installation, then installation ease is improved, but sealing requirements become more critical
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing element is made of flexible material that can deform during insertion and then expand to create a tight seal against the facade. This flexible sealing mechanism ensures air and water tightness while allowing simple insertion through a single opening, maintaining both installation ease and sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
By inserting the sealing device from the interior rather than the exterior, the system maintains the simplicity of single-hole installation while ensuring superior sealing, as the flexible sealing element is deployed from the protected interior environment where it can properly engage the facade from the inside.
3Ease of operation
If the sealing element is inclined relative to the conduit axis, then insertion ease is improved, but sealing contact pressure may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing element transitions from an inclined position during insertion to a final contact position against the facade. The elastic means provide dynamic force, extending during insertion to accommodate the inclined angle, then folding to generate contact pressure when the sealing element engages the exterior facade, thus maintaining both insertion ease and sealing pressure.
Solution Approach 2:
The elastic means are pre-loaded in the connecting means before insertion. During insertion, this pre-loaded elastic energy accommodates the inclined sealing element, and upon deployment, the elastic means fold to generate the necessary contact pressure, ensuring both easy insertion and effective sealing contact.
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 solution allows for efficient sealing of fluid passage orifices without external intervention, maintaining building integrity and facilitating installation regardless of facade thickness, while ensuring air and water tightness.
Implementation Method 1
intermediate elastic means between the connecting means and the sealing element, the elastic means extending the connecting means in said longitudinal direction... the elastic means folding the sealing element back into its rest position and ensuring contact between the conduit and the exterior facade
Data Source
Figure 1~4
Figure 3a~3c
Figure 3d
AI summary
The present invention concerns a method for sealing an opening for the passage of fluid, for example air and/or water, on an external façade of a building, said opening being formed between an internal part and an external part of the building, and such that it comprises, inter alia, a step of providing a tubular conduit carrying a sealing device on one of the ends thereof, and a step of inserting said device and the system into an opening from the interior of the building. The present invention also concerns a sealing device.