Modular Ventilation Duct Assembly Using Interlocking Flexible Panels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current ventilation duct assembly kits for underground passages, such as mines and tunnels, are not easily transportable in smaller section lengths and are difficult to assemble onsite.
Innovation Solution
A ventilation duct assembly kit comprising flat flexible panels with interlocking interfaces, sealant, slideable locking elements, collets, and fasteners, allowing for easy assembly of interconnecting ductwork elements with a method that involves shaping, sealing, and interconnecting the panels using a pallet-supported system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If ventilation ducts are supplied in long section lengths (up to 500 meters), then transportation efficiency is improved, but ease of assembly and handling onsite deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The duct system is segmented into modular flexible panels that can be easily transported and assembled. Each panel is a discrete unit with standardized interlocking interfaces, allowing workers to handle and assemble individual sections rather than managing extremely long duct sections, thus resolving the contradiction between transportation efficiency and ease of assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The panels are pre-formed with integrated interlocking interfaces and sealing components during manufacturing. This preliminary preparation of connection mechanisms allows for rapid onsite assembly without requiring complex field fabrication or specialized equipment, maintaining productivity while improving ease of operation.
2Reliability
If ductwork elements are interconnected with multiple components (fastening system, sealant, locking elements, collets), then connection reliability is improved, but device complexity and assembly difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple connection functions are merged into integrated components. The fastening system incorporates both mechanical interlocking features and sealing surfaces within single structural elements. The locking elements and collets are designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously, reducing the number of separate components workers must handle while maintaining high connection reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The interlocking interfaces are designed with self-aligning and self-sealing characteristics. The male and female interfaces automatically position themselves during assembly, and the sealant is applied in a manner that self-seals the connection without requiring additional sealing operations, simplifying the assembly process while ensuring reliable connections.
3Adaptability or versatility
If flat flexible panels are used instead of pre-formed rigid ducts, then adaptability and ease of shaping are improved, but manufacturing precision and structural strength may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The ductwork uses flexible panels that can be shaped and bent to adapt to various site conditions and tunnel geometries. The flexibility allows the ducts to conform to curved surfaces and irregular spaces while maintaining structural integrity through the panel design and interlocking system, resolving the contradiction between adaptability and manufacturing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible panels are manufactured with precise dimensions and standardized features in a controlled factory environment, ensuring manufacturing precision. Onsite, these precisely manufactured segments are assembled using flexible connections that allow adaptation to field conditions, thus maintaining both precision and adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
A ventilation duct assembly kit for use for forming interconnecting ventilation ducts. The kit includes a pallet supporting a flexible panels that are shapeable into ductwork elements. Each of the panels has opposite duct-forming sides, opposite interconnecting sides for interconnection to a subsequent panel formed into a ductwork element, and a male and female interlocking interfaces respectively fixed on first and second opposite duct-forming sides for interlocking of the duct-forming sides together. The kit also includes slideable locking elements shaped to slide and fit over assembled male and female interlocking interfaces. A plurality of collets shaped to fit over the interconnecting sides of the formed ductwork elements and sized to extend between the adjacent slideable locking elements from corresponding adjacent shaped ductwork elements that are linked through the collet are also provided. A method of assembling such interconnecting ventilation ducts is also disclosed.