Metal Seal Ring With Composite Protrusions For High Pressure Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing metal seal rings in various industries face challenges in maintaining a sealed connection between tubular components under high pressure and varying orientations, often resulting in leakage due to stiffness and lack of flexibility.
Innovation Solution
A novel metal seal ring design featuring a flange with sealing members that include protrusions and recesses filled with a softer material, and inwardly directed notches, which provides flexibility and optimized load sharing, allowing for improved sealing performance across a range of orientations and pressures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a metal seal ring is made stiff to maintain structural integrity under high pressure, then strength is improved, but flexibility deteriorates causing leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The seal ring combines a rigid metal body with a softer material inserted into a circumferential groove. This composite structure allows the metal portion to provide structural strength while the softer material provides flexibility and conformability to mating surfaces, resolving the contradiction between strength and adaptability
Solution Approach 2:
The softer material is placed specifically in the groove where sealing contact occurs, while the rest of the seal ring maintains its rigid metal structure. This local differentiation allows the sealing surface to be flexible while the overall structure remains strong
2Ease of manufacture
If the seal ring design is simplified for ease of manufacture, then ease of manufacture is improved, but sealing performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The seal ring is divided into a metal body portion and a separate softer material insert. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured independently using optimal processes for that material, then assembled together. The metal ring can be machined or formed using standard metalworking, while the softer material can be molded or extruded, and both are simple operations that maintain manufacturing ease while enabling the composite structure needed for reliable sealing
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 design enhances sealing capacity and flexibility, reducing reaction forces and maintaining a sealed connection effectively across different operational conditions, including high pressure and subsea applications.
Implementation Method 1
a second sealing area on the second sealing member, wherein the second sealing area is formed by a radially outer surface of the softer material
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A
Figure 2B
AI summary
A metal seal ring (100) disclosed herein includes a front side surface (106) having a plurality of first sealing areas (114) and second sealing areas (116), and a back side surface (108) having a plurality of spaced-apart protrusions (130) having a radially innermost surface (131) located at a first radial distance (131X) from a longitudinal axis (110) of the seal and a first axial distance (131Y) from an axis of symmetry (112) of the seal. The back side (108) also includes a plurality of recesses (128) located between one of the protrusions (130) and the axis of symmetry (112), each recess having a radially outermost surface (129) located at a second radial distance (129X) from the longitudinal axis (110) and a second axial distance (129Y) from the axis of symmetry (112). A ratio of the second axial distance (129Y) to the first axial distance (131Y) falls within the range of about 0.38-0.63, and a ratio of the second radial distance (129X) to the first radial distance (131X) falls within the range of about 0.79-1.32