Segmented Door Seal Prevents Weapon Misuse

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional door seals can be removed from frames and used as weapons or ropes, making them unsuitable for institutional settings like prisons or mental hospitals, despite providing effective noise and air abatement.

Innovation Solution

A door seal comprising a rigid mounting strip with short, segmented flexible sealing strips that cannot be used as a weapon or rope, featuring a cylindrical bead and made from materials like neoprene or rubber, secured with screws or adhesive, ensuring the strips break into segments if removed.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a continuous flexible sealing strip is used, then effective noise and air abatement is achieved, but the seal can be removed and used as a weapon or rope

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesecurity safetyVSAvoidpotential weapon or rope usage
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The sealing strip is divided into multiple discrete segments rather than being a continuous strip. Each segment is too short to be useful as a weapon or rope, eliminating the safety hazard while maintaining the sealing function when all segments are installed together along the door frame.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Object-generated harmful factors

If the sealing strip is segmented into short pieces, then it cannot be used as a weapon or rope, but the installation complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprevention of weapon or rope misuseVSAvoidinstallation process
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-generated harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

A mounting strip serves as an intermediary component that simplifies installation. The sealing segments are attached to this mounting strip, which is then installed as a single unit on the door frame. This mediator component eliminates the need to individually position and secure each sealing segment, greatly simplifying the installation process.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Reliability

If the mounting strip is made of rigid material, then the segmented seal cannot be removed as a unit, but the ease of removal for maintenance is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprevention of seal removalVSAvoidseal replacement difficulty
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of repair

Solution Approach 1:

The sealing segments are extracted as separate removable components from the rigid mounting strip structure. This allows the flexible sealing elements to be independently removed and replaced without damaging or replacing the entire mounting strip assembly, facilitating easy maintenance while the rigid strip remains fixed to prevent overall seal removal.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentEP2257683B1Sealing device
Publication Date: 2014.05.21 ZERO INT
  • EP2257683B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP2257683B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4

AI summary

A door seal includes an elongated mounting strip adapted to be secured to a door frame and a flexible sealing strip adapted to be positioned between the mounting strip and the door frame for sealing the space between the door and the frame thereby to reduce transmission of noise and air through that space. The flexible sealing strip is formed from a series of individual separate strip segments aligned next to each other along the mounting strip.