One-Piece Seal Assembly for High-Pressure Underwater Couplings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional seal assemblies for underwater fluid couplings are complex, costly, and often fail to withstand the high pressure pulses required in undersea oil well operations, typically lasting only up to 2,000 cycles at 15,000 psi.
Innovation Solution
A simplified seal assembly with four components, comprising a main sealing body, shoe, and two sealing collars, designed for easy installation and production, utilizing a one-piece fabrication to withstand over 10,000 cycles of pressure pulses at 15,000 psi, made from materials like stainless steel or nickel super-alloys with coatings for enhanced durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional seal assemblies are used, then sealing function is provided, but device complexity increases and reliability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple sealing functions into a single integrated sealing body component. The sealing body includes a body portion and a gate leg portion that are formed as one piece, eliminating the need for separate sealing components. This merging of parts reduces device complexity while maintaining the sealing function needed to withstand high pressure pulses in underwater couplings.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing body is designed with distinct functional segments: a body portion for sealing the coupling interface and a gate leg portion for sealing the gate passage. These segments are integrated into one component but maintain distinct geometric features that address different sealing requirements, allowing the single component to perform multiple sealing functions simultaneously.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional seal assemblies are used, then sealing function is provided, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
By forming the sealing body as a single integrated component rather than assembling multiple separate sealing parts, the patent simplifies manufacturing processes. The one-piece construction eliminates the need for precision assembly of multiple components, reducing both manufacturing complexity and cost while maintaining effective sealing performance.
3Ease of manufacture
If simplified seal assembly is used, then ease of manufacture improves, but sealing performance may worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing body incorporates specific geometric features at critical locations to ensure effective sealing. The body portion includes a sealing surface with particular contour characteristics, and the gate leg portion includes a sealing edge with specific geometry. These localized quality features are designed into the one-piece structure to provide reliable sealing performance despite the overall simplification of the assembly.
Data Source
AI summary
A seal assembly (10) comprising a sealing body (40), a shoe (42), a first collar (44), and a second collar (46). The shoe (42) is positioned within a space defined by radially inner surfaces of the sealing body (40), the first collar (44) is positioned on a first axial side of the sealing body (40), and the second collar (46) is positioned on a second axial side of the sealing body (40). These components (40, 42, 44, 46) collectively form inter-component sealing surfaces, pocket sealing surfaces, gate sealing surfaces and/or part sealing surfaces which prevent the infiltration of outside fluid into, and the escape of operative fluid from, a fluid coupling.