Pipe Sealing Assembly for Misalignment and Sludge Residue Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pipe connectors fail to maintain tightness and cleanliness, especially when dealing with sticky substances and frequent connection/disconnection in industrial processes, due to misalignment and residue accumulation.
Innovation Solution
A flexible pipe connection system using a pushing plate, gasket, and sealing plate with concentric protuberances that allows for misalignment compensation and self-cleaning, ensuring tightness and cleanliness by depositing residues outside the connection point.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional pipe connectors are used for frequent connection and disconnection, then the connection can be made quickly, but the tightness of the connection deteriorates due to misalignment and residue accumulation
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing plate is segmented into multiple concentric sealing rings (first sealing ring, second sealing ring, third sealing ring) that can independently engage with corresponding grooves on the pipe surfaces. This segmentation allows the sealing function to be distributed across multiple contact points, maintaining tightness even when pipes are misaligned during frequent connection and disconnection operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The connector design incorporates a pushing plate that dynamically adjusts the position of the sealing plate against the pipe surfaces during connection. This dynamic adjustment mechanism ensures optimal sealing contact is achieved automatically, compensating for misalignment that occurs during frequent assembly and disassembly operations.
2Reliability
If conventional connectors are used with sticky substances like sludge, then the connection can be maintained, but the connector requires continuous cleaning to preserve tightness
Solution Approach 1:
The design extracts the harmful sticky residues from the sealing surfaces by incorporating a pushing plate that forces residues out of the sealing area during the connection process. The residues are directed into a receiving chamber, effectively removing them from the sealing path and eliminating the need for continuous cleaning to maintain tightness.
Solution Approach 2:
The connector performs self-cleaning through its own operational mechanism. The pushing plate automatically ejects sticky residues from the sealing surfaces during normal connection operations, and the spring-loaded mechanism ensures the sealing surfaces are constantly cleared without requiring external cleaning interventions.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple concentric sealing rings are added to the sealing plate, then adaptability to misalignment is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The multiple concentric sealing rings serve multiple functions simultaneously: the first sealing ring handles primary sealing, the second sealing ring compensates for misalignment, and the third sealing ring provides backup sealing and captures residues. This multi-functionality design allows a single sealing plate structure to handle various alignment conditions without requiring separate components for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
The techniques introduced here include a system and method for efficiently connecting two or more pipes through the combination of a pushing plate, a gasket and a sealing plate. Such techniques exploit the presence of concentric protuberances, or rings, on the sealing plate that help, also thanks to the space between them, in keeping the cleanness, tightness and flexibility of the conjunction, especially when sticky substances, like a sludge, are dealt with.