Removable Hatch with Two-Sided Gel Seal for Conduit Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Aircraft and water vessels require water-tight compartments for electronics, but existing mechanical seal fittings are complex, costly, and heavy, and prone to leakage, especially during water landings which create vacuums that pull moisture through interface voids.
Innovation Solution
A water-tight compartment design using a removable hatch with a pair of interlocking gaskets, one on the compartment and one on the hatch, made of highly conformable silicone gel material, which forms a tight seal around conduits without the need for mechanical fittings, ensuring a water-tight or air-tight seal by filling voids and resisting migration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mechanical seal fittings are used at each conduit, then leakage prevention is improved, but device complexity, cost, and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate mechanical seal fittings into a single continuous sealant layer that spans across all conduits. The sealant is applied as a continuous material that simultaneously seals around multiple conduits passing through the water-tight envelope, eliminating the need for individual mechanical fittings at each conduit location.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealant serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides sealing around conduits, maintains water-tight integrity of the envelope, and remains flexible to accommodate conduit movements. This single sealant material replaces multiple specialized mechanical components that would otherwise be needed for each function.
2Reliability
If mechanical seal fittings are used at each conduit, then leakage prevention is improved, but weight increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical seal fittings (rigid mechanical components) with a flexible sealant material. The sealant cures to form a durable sealing layer that prevents leakage without requiring heavy mechanical structures, fasteners, or complex assembly mechanisms at each conduit penetration point.
3Ease of operation
If a removable hatch is used for access, then ease of operation is improved, but maintaining water-tight seal upon reinstallation becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The sealant material undergoes parameter changes through its curing process, transitioning from a soft, workable state during installation to a firm, durable sealing layer after curing. This allows the seal to accommodate hatch removal and reinstallation while maintaining water-tight integrity once cured.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealant provides dynamic sealing capability, remaining flexible enough to accommodate repeated hatch removal and reinstallation while maintaining seal integrity. The material can deform during hatch operations and then return to its sealing function, adapting to the mechanical movements without compromising water-tightness.
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 prevents leakage through the water-tight envelope around conduits, allowing for repeated removal and reinstallation of the hatch while maintaining a perfect seal, reducing complexity, cost, and weight, and effectively addressing vacuum-induced moisture ingress.
Implementation Method 1
A first sealing gasket is between the compartment sealing surface and the hatch sealing surface and comprises a first elastically conformable layer
Implementation Method 2
the conformable material has a conformability corresponding to an exclusion size on the order of a liquid molecule or a gas molecule
Data Source
AI summary
A water-tight or air-tight accessible compartment has a removable hatch sealed at the edge with elastically conformable opposing seals, with elongate communication elements extending into the compartment between the opposing seals, seals conforming to the topology formed between the compartment edge and the elongate communication elements.