Flexible Pipe Collar With Adjustment Openings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pipe collars are costly, require a casting that increases expense, and can ovalize semi-rigid pipes due to partial contact with the pipe circumference, limiting adaptability to various diameters and ease of installation.
Innovation Solution
A collar with a flexible flange and screwing means featuring adjustment openings and hooking mechanisms that allow for removable attachment without completely unscrewing, ensuring the collar can encircle the pipe over most of its circumference, adaptable to different diameters, and reducing material costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a rigid saddle casting is used in known collars, then the collar can be tightened on the pipe, but the cost price increases due to the casting requirement
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the rigid saddle casting from the collar structure, retaining only the flexible flange and screwing means. This extraction eliminates the costly casting process while maintaining the essential tightening function through the flexible flange alone, directly resolving the contradiction between manufacturing cost and structural strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the expensive, permanent rigid saddle casting with a simpler, more economical flexible flange structure. The flexible flange, made from flexible material rather than cast metal, provides the necessary function at lower cost, addressing the contradiction between manufacturing cost and structural requirements.
2Strength
If a rigid saddle is used in known collars, then the collar can be tightened on the pipe, but the flexible flange contacts only partially with the pipe circumference, causing ovalization
Solution Approach 1:
By removing the rigid saddle that caused partial contact and ovalization, the invention allows the flexible flange to contact the pipe along its entire circumference. The flexible material conforms to the pipe surface, eliminating the harmful ovalization effect while maintaining tightening capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses a flexible flange made from flexible material that can conform to the pipe circumference, ensuring complete contact. This flexible structure eliminates the rigid contact points that caused ovalization, directly addressing the contradiction between tightening capability and prevention of pipe deformation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If adjustment openings are provided in known collars, then the collar can be adapted to different pipe diameters, but the structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The invention makes the flexible flange itself universal by providing it with multiple adjustment openings that allow adaptation to different pipe diameters. The flexible material and adjustable opening positions enable a single collar design to serve multiple diameter requirements, achieving adaptability without adding rigid components or complex adjustment mechanisms.
4Strength
If a rigid saddle and flexible flange assembly is used, then the collar can be tightened, but installation requires difficult excavation conditions and wet zones
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses a completely flexible flange structure that can be easily opened, positioned around the pipe, and closed without requiring rigid support or complex assembly. This flexibility greatly simplifies installation operations, allowing the collar to be installed more easily even in difficult excavation conditions and wet zones, while maintaining the tightening function.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a collar intended to encircle a fluid-carrying pipe suitable either for blanking off an orifice in the pipe, or for creating a tapping in the pipe, or for repairing a crack in the said pipe. The collar comprises: - a flexible clamp (2) intended to encircle the said pipe, - screwing means (3) collaborating with the said flexible clamp (2) to clamp the collar onto the said pipe (1) and comprising at least a screw (4) and a nut (5). According to the invention: - the collar has a catching body (6) exhibiting a bore through which the screwing means (3) pass and is fitted with catching means (8) intended to collaborate with at least one region that accepts the flexible clamp (2) to catch removably on the said flexible clamp (2), - the said collar has means for adjusting the effective length of the said flexible clamp, these means comprising a plurality of adjusting openings distributed along the length of the said flexible clamp and intended for adjusting the position of the screwing means (3).