Nested Sealing Gasket Assembly for Open-End Clamp Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing open-type seals face issues with weakness at the junction between their ends, leading to potential sealing failures and a spring effect that complicates handling, storage, and assembly, especially when made from materials that tend to unroll.
Innovation Solution
A clamping device featuring two sleeves formed from strips with angularly offset sealing arrangements, where one sleeve covers the other radially, retaining each other and preventing unrolling, while allowing for easy diameter adjustment and material selection, including mica-based and metallic materials, to enhance sealing performance and stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a single open-type seal is used, then manufacturing flexibility and material selection are improved, but sealing reliability deteriorates due to weakness at the junction between ends
Solution Approach 1:
The seal is divided into two separate sleeves (first sleeve and second sleeve) formed from strips, each with its own sealing arrangement. This segmentation allows each sleeve to be manufactured independently with high reliability while maintaining the flexibility of open-type seals, resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and sealing reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The two sleeves are arranged concentrically with the first sleeve inside the second sleeve, creating a nested structure. The sealing arrangements are angularly offset so that one sealing arrangement bridges the junction of the other, providing redundant sealing paths and eliminating the weakness at single junction points while maintaining manufacturing flexibility.
2Reliability
If seal material with spring effect is used, then resistance to environmental constraints is improved, but handling and storage become more difficult due to unrolling tendency
Solution Approach 1:
The nested arrangement of two sleeves with angularly offset sealing arrangements creates mutual constraint. Each sleeve physically restrains the other from unrolling, allowing the use of spring-effect materials that resist environmental constraints while eliminating handling and storage difficulties.
Solution Approach 2:
The two sleeves act as counterbalancing structures where each sleeve provides a restraining force against the spring effect of the other. This mutual counteraction neutralizes the unrolling tendency while preserving the material's resistance to environmental constraints.
3Reliability
If closed annular seal is used, then sealing performance under compression is improved, but adaptability to different applications deteriorates due to fixed diameter
Solution Approach 1:
The collar belt is designed to be tightenable by reducing its diameter, allowing the seal to adapt to different application requirements. The two sleeves with angularly offset sealing arrangements maintain effective sealing throughout the tightening process, providing both sealing performance and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The diameter of the seal can be changed by tightening the collar belt, which reduces the diameter and brings the ends of the two sleeves closer together. This parameter change allows adaptation to different applications while maintaining sealing performance through the bridging sealing arrangements.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A
Figure 2B
AI summary
The sealing gasket (20) comprises a first and a second coaxial sleeve (30, 40), arranged around each other and held relative to one another. Each sleeve is formed by a strip wound upon itself (32, 42) whose ends are configured to cooperate with each other via a sealing arrangement (34, 44), thus reducing the sleeve diameter. The sealing arrangements of the two sleeves are angularly offset. The clamping device comprises a clamp with a band inside which the sealing gasket (20) is disposed and held axially relative to the clamp.