Pipe Joint Retainer Structure for Shorter Flexible Pipe Insertion
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional pipe joints require a significant length for flexible pipe insertion and are prone to engagement failures due to the complexity of multiple members, making them vulnerable to improper engagement between the retainer and flexible pipe.
Innovation Solution
A retainer with a corrugated pattern design, featuring pawls, supports, and a deformable connector that absorbs displacement, allowing for stable deformation and firm engagement with the flexible pipe without requiring additional member motions during insertion, and includes a gasket and pressure member configuration for enhanced sealing and retention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple members are arranged one by one along the center axis to achieve engagement between the retainer and flexible pipe, then the engagement reliability is improved, but the insertion length requirement increases and the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple members (pawls, supports, and connectors) into a single integrated retainer structure. The retainer includes multiple pawls that engage with the flexible pipe, supports that contact the pipe joint body housing, and connectors that link the pawls and supports together, all formed as one piece. This merging eliminates the need for multiple separate members arranged along the center axis, thereby reducing the insertion length requirement while maintaining engagement reliability through the distributed pawl-support-connector architecture.
2Reliability
If multiple members are arranged one by one along the center axis to achieve engagement, then the engagement function is improved, but the device complexity increases making it more vulnerable to abnormality
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates multiple functional members into a single retainer component. The retainer comprises multiple pawls for engaging the flexible pipe, supports for contacting the pipe joint body housing, and connectors linking the pawls and supports, all formed as one integrated structure. This reduces the number of separate members from multiple discrete components to a single multi-functional retainer, thereby reducing device complexity and the vulnerability to abnormalities associated with multiple separate members while maintaining the engagement function through the distributed pawl-support-connector system.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the connector is made more deformable than the pawls and supports, then the retainer can absorb displacement and deform stably, but the strength of the connector decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making the connector more deformable than the pawls and supports. The connector is designed with different material properties or structural characteristics that allow it to deform more easily under load, enabling the retainer to absorb displacement and deform stably during engagement. This localized difference in deformability is strategically applied to the connector portion while maintaining higher strength in the pawls and supports, resolving the contradiction between deformation stability and connector strength.
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 solution reduces the insertion length requirement, ensures stable and firm engagement of the flexible pipe, and maintains sealing integrity even with age deterioration, while allowing for easy confirmation of pipe connection through visual indicators.
Implementation Method 1
the connector is provided to be more deformable than the pawls and the supports. When the flexible pipe is inserted into the pipe joint, a peak of the corrugated pipe and the pawl of the retainer may come into contact with each other. By inserting the flexible pipe further, pressing force is applied from the flexible pipe to the retainer at which the connector is deformed to displace the pawl in a direction of moving away from the flexible pipe and to displace the support in a direction of moving away from the inner surface of the pipe joint body.
Data Source
AI summary
A retainer allows reduction in a length in a direction of insertion of a flexible pipe and capable of being engaged with the flexible pipe without requiring motions of other members. The retainer is a retainer having a shape of a ring and used in a pipe joint, including: a plurality of pawls for getting into a valley of a corrugated pipe of a flexible pipe to be inserted into the pipe joint; a plurality of supports for contacting an inner surface of a pipe joint body housing the retainer in the pipe joint, the supports being continuous with corresponding ones of the pawls as viewed in a direction of a center axis of the ring of the retainer; and a connector connecting the pawls and the supports in a plurality of combinations continuous with each other. The connector is more elastically deformable than the pawls and the supports.