Modular Gutter Labyrinth Joint for Watertight Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sectional modular gutters face challenges in achieving a watertight connection regardless of material type, especially when made from polypropylene, and when the male joint is imperfectly formed or damaged during transverse cutting.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates transverse ribs and fins with a labyrinth-type joint structure, featuring a sinuous undulation, which provides exceptional rigidity and watertightness without the need for structural sealants, allowing for seamless interconnection of gutter modules even with minor irregularities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If gutters are made from polypropylene to enable modular construction, then ease of manufacture and adaptability are improved, but the ability to achieve watertight connections without structural sealants deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a labyrinth-type joint structure with sinuous undulations featuring multiple curved surfaces and recesses. The male joint includes protruding ribs with curved profiles that engage with corresponding grooves in the female joint, creating a tortuous path for water. This curvature-based design prevents direct water passage while maintaining structural integrity without requiring structural sealants.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from simple planar joint surfaces to a three-dimensional labyrinthine structure with multiple levels of engagement. The male joint's protruding ribs create vertical and horizontal offsets within the joint plane, adding dimensional complexity that blocks water flow paths while maintaining mechanical connection strength.
2Adaptability or versatility
If transverse cutting is performed to customize gutter length, then adaptability is improved, but manufacturing precision of the male joint deteriorates due to imperfect formation or damage
Solution Approach 1:
The labyrinth-type joint structure incorporates built-in tolerance compensation through its multi-level undulating design. The sinuous engagement paths and curved surfaces are designed to accommodate variations in male joint geometry caused by cutting operations, ensuring reliable watertight connections even when the male joint is imperfectly formed or partially damaged during transverse cutting.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the flexibility of the polypropylene material and the geometric flexibility of the labyrinth structure to absorb dimensional variations. The sinuous undulations can deform and adapt to slight geometry changes in the male joint, maintaining the sealing function despite parameter variations introduced by cutting operations.
3Device complexity
If simple joint structures are used to reduce device complexity, then ease of manufacture is improved, but the ability to provide both rigidity and watertightness without structural sealants deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a labyrinth-type joint structure with sinuous undulations featuring multiple curved surfaces and recesses. The male joint includes protruding ribs with curved profiles that engage with corresponding grooves in the female joint, creating a tortuous path for water. This curvature-based design prevents direct water passage while maintaining structural integrity without requiring structural sealants.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention describes a reinforced sectional and modular gutter (C), with improved male (5) and female (6) joints at its extremities and with improved male joints (5) in the intermediate zones (G) for the formation of submultiples of gutter always with male and female joints at the extremities. It is also described the formation externally provided with ribs of a modular gutter, which improves its rigidity, its resistance to mechanical stresses and which improves the anchoring of the poured cement or concrete inside which it will be embedded. Each modular gutter is provided at one end with joints (15, 115) for pipes for the inlet o discharge of water, which are in origin closed but can be opened easily. It is also described an improved head element (S) for the shutter closure of the extremities of the gutter or for the closure of the not utilised parts of a cross joint (X) which can be associated with sectional and modular gutters in order to increase their flexibility of employment in the formation of linear drainage channels or with interconnection of the L-, T- or cross- type.