Segmented Gasket Joining Structure to Prevent Warpage and Jamming
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rubber-metal gaskets experience significant warpage during press-fit stemming, leading to positional inaccuracies and jamming issues due to displaced material, which affects the dimensional accuracy and installation of the gasket.
Innovation Solution
The gasket design incorporates intermeshing engagement elements with through-openings acting as sacrificial holes to receive displaced material, allowing for precise positioning and easy removal from the die without jamming, while maintaining high retaining strength and buckling resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If adjacent segments are joined by press-fit stemming, then retaining strength and buckling resistance are improved, but warpage occurs and positional accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The gasket is divided into multiple segments that are joined together. Each segment can be manufactured separately with high precision, and the segmentation allows for controlled joining at specific locations without affecting the entire gasket's dimensional accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The engagement elements are designed with specific local geometries (protrusions and recesses) that concentrate the joining function at discrete locations. This localizes the press-fit stemming action to specific areas, preventing widespread warpage while maintaining high retaining strength at the joint locations.
2Strength
If press-fit stemming is used to join segments, then joining strength is improved, but material displacement causes warpage and jamming
Solution Approach 1:
The engagement elements are designed to extract or remove material from the joining region through the protrusion-recess mechanism. The recesses are shaped to accommodate and contain the displaced material, preventing it from causing warpage or jamming during the press-fit stemming process.
Solution Approach 2:
The displaced material that would normally cause warpage and jamming is redirected into the recesses of the engagement elements. By converting the harmful effect of material displacement into a beneficial filling of the recesses, the design eliminates warpage while maintaining joining strength.
3Productivity
If segments are joined in a single die with injection molding, then productivity is improved, but removal from die becomes difficult due to jamming
Solution Approach 1:
The engagement elements with their protrusion-recess design extract the problematic displaced material and contain it within the recesses. This prevents the material from interfering with the ejection process, allowing easy removal of the completed gasket from the single die while maintaining high productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
Gaskets and methods for manufacturing a gasket for sealing a gap in a housing, such as a battery housing, which gap extends at least partially around an interior of the housing, said gasket comprising at least one sealing layer. The sealing layer comprises at least two segments which are arranged adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction of the sealing layer and are joined to each other at a joining region. The two segments have, at the joining region, intermeshing engagement elements joined to each other, and one or both of the segments has/have, at the joining region a positioning hole and a through-opening which are arranged behind the engagement element from the point of view of the respective other segment.