Sabot-Launched Piston Pressure Wave Generator
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing pressure wave generators face challenges with premature failure due to complex features and stress concentrations in pistons, which complicate heat treatment and manufacturing, leading to inefficiencies in generating pressure waves.
Innovation Solution
A pressure wave generator design featuring a separate sabot and piston, where the sabot accelerates the piston using pressurized fluid and an electromagnet or vacuum locking mechanism, allowing for deceleration and re-engagement, enabling efficient energy transfer and prolonged use without discarding the sabot.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If complex features are machined into the piston for bearing rings, seals, control rod attachments, then the piston can perform multiple functions, but stress concentrations are introduced leading to premature failure
Solution Approach 1:
The piston is divided into multiple independent components: the piston body, bearing rings, seals, and control rod attachments are separate parts that can be independently manufactured and replaced. This segmentation eliminates stress concentrations in a single monolithic structure while maintaining all necessary functions through modular assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The piston uses replaceable wear components (bearing rings, seals) that can be discarded when worn, while the main piston body is recovered and reused. This extends the overall piston system life significantly by separating disposable consumable parts from the durable structural component.
2Adaptability or versatility
If features are machined into the piston, then functional requirements are met, but heat treatment becomes complicated and may cause thermal cracking
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the piston into a simple cylindrical body and separate functional components (bearing rings, seals, attachments), each part can be heat treated independently according to its specific requirements without the complications of treating a complex monolithic structure with varying section thicknesses and geometries.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of machining complex features into a solid piston body, the invention inverts the approach by providing a simple piston body and adding functional features through separate components that fit onto or into the piston, thereby simplifying the heat treatment of the main structural element.
3Ease of operation
If the sabot is discarded after use, then the piston can be released to continue trajectory, but manufacturing efficiency decreases due to repeated piston production
Solution Approach 1:
The system discards only the sabot (launch carrier) after use while recovering and reusing the expensive piston component. The sabot is designed for single-use disposal, but the piston is retained and prepared for the next launch cycle, significantly reducing manufacturing costs and increasing productivity by avoiding repeated piston production.
Solution Approach 2:
The sabot serves as an intermediary launch carrier that is discarded after its function is complete, allowing the valuable piston to be released and recovered. The sabot protects and transports the piston during launch but is designed to be disposable, separating the single-use launch function from the reusable pressure wave generation function.
4Power
If direct mechanical impact is applied to generate pressure waves, then energy transfer is direct, but the system lacks control over wave generation timing and precision
Solution Approach 1:
The piston system enables periodic, controlled pressure wave generation by accelerating the piston and releasing it at precisely timed intervals to impact the transducer. This periodic action provides both the power of direct mechanical impact and the precision of controlled timing, allowing multiple pressure waves to be generated on demand with accurate temporal spacing.
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
This design enhances the durability and ease of manufacturing of the piston, allows for repeated use of the sabot, and improves the efficiency of pressure wave generation by ensuring precise control over the piston's acceleration and deceleration, reducing stress concentrations and thermal cracking issues.
Implementation Method 1
a pressurized fluid can be delivered into the inner bore to accelerate the sabot carrying the piston toward the second end of the housing
Implementation Method 2
an electromagnet mounted to the sabot and a power source in electrical communication with the electromagnet. When the power source is turned on the electromagnet is energized generating a magnetic field securing the piston to the sabot
Implementation Method 3
a vacuum source fluidly coupled to ports in the sabot to create vacuum in a sabot's cavity thereby suctioning the piston to the sabot
Implementation Method 4
The pressure wave can be generated by a mechanical impact of an accelerated piston on a transducer coupled to the medium. The transducer can at least partially convert kinetic energy of the movable piston into a pressure wave in the medium
Data Source
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AI summary
Examples of a pressure wave generator configured to generate high energy pressure waves in a medium are disclosed. The pressure wave generator can include a sabot carrying a piston. The sabot can further comprise a locking means to lock the piston in a fixed position when the locking means are activated. When the locking means are in a deactivated position, the piston can be released and can move at least partially away from the sabot. The sabot carrying the piston can be disposed within an inner bore of a housing of the pressure wave generator and can move within the inner bore of the housing from its first end toward its second end along a longitudinal axis of the bore. A transducer can be accommodated in the second end of the housing. The transducer can be coupled to the medium and can convert a portion of the kinetic energy of the piston into a pressure wave in the medium upon impact of the piston with the transducer. The sabot carrying the piston can be accelerated by applying a motive force to the sabot. Once accelerated within the inner bore of the housing the sabot can be decelerated by applying a restraining force to the sabot while the piston can be released at least partially from the sabot to continue to move toward the transducer until it impacts the transducer. Examples of methods of operating the pressure wave generator are disclosed.