Self-locking Plug with Flexible Beam Fingers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing self-locking plugs for aircraft engine borescope ports are often prone to damage, require special tools, and lack reliability, maintainability, and ease of manufacturing, while also being bulky and heavy.
Innovation Solution
A self-locking plug design featuring a body component with flexible beam fingers, a tab sleeve component, an annular detent ring, and a wave spring that provides a biasing force to prevent loosening, ensuring secure engagement and easy assembly without sharp edges or loose parts, and is compact and lightweight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional self-locking plug designs are used, then the locking function is achieved, but the plug is prone to damage, has sharp edges, and requires special tools for operation
Solution Approach 1:
The plug incorporates fully rounded contours with no sharp edges throughout its structure. The body, fingers, tabs, and detents all feature curved surfaces that eliminate stress concentration points, making the plug more resistant to damage while maintaining the self-locking function through the rounded geometric profiles.
Solution Approach 2:
The design eliminates complex internal mechanisms and loose parts that are prone to failure, creating a simpler, more robust structure that is less susceptible to damage from operational stresses, thermal cycling, and vibration in high-temperature environments.
2Reliability
If conventional self-locking plug designs are used, then the locking function is achieved, but special tools and techniques are required to operate them
Solution Approach 1:
The plug features a self-locking mechanism where the flexible fingers automatically engage with the detents upon insertion and rotation, requiring no additional locking tools or techniques. The wave spring provides automatic biasing force that ensures positive engagement without operator intervention beyond simple screwing motion.
Solution Approach 2:
The design replaces complex mechanical locking mechanisms with a simpler elastic deformation-based locking system. The flexible beam fingers utilize elasticity to engage and disengage from detents through simple rotational motion, eliminating the need for special tools or techniques.
3Reliability
If conventional self-locking plug designs are used, then the locking function is achieved, but the design is not compact and lightweight
Solution Approach 1:
The plug is divided into integrated functional components where the flexible beam fingers, tabs, and detents are formed as continuous elastic structures from the main body. This segmentation into functional zones reduces material usage while maintaining locking reliability through the distributed elastic elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible beam fingers are designed as thin, elastic structures that provide the necessary locking force through their flexibility. These thin-walled elastic components significantly reduce the overall mass of the plug while maintaining the self-locking function through elastic deformation rather than heavy mechanical components.
4Reliability
If conventional self-locking plug designs are used, then the locking function is achieved, but the design is complex and difficult to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple functional elements (body, flexible fingers, tabs, and detents) are merged into a single integrated structure that can be manufactured as one piece. This consolidation eliminates the need for assembling multiple separate components, reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining the self-locking reliability through the integrated elastic structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The design utilizes changes in material properties and geometric parameters to achieve the locking function. By controlling the elasticity, thickness, and curvature of the flexible beam fingers, the self-locking mechanism is achieved through material deformation rather than complex mechanical assemblies, simplifying manufacturing processes.
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 design provides a robust, reusable, and reliable self-locking mechanism that prevents loosening and leakage, with a compact and lightweight structure that is easy to manufacture and operate, ensuring secure sealing and easy inspection access.
Implementation Method 1
a wave spring disposed between the tab sleeve component and the annular detent ring component for providing a biasing force
Implementation Method 2
the plurality of flexible beam fingers travel across the plurality of detents to cause elastic deformation of the flexible beam fingers
Data Source
AI summary
A compact, highly-reusable, self-locking includes a body component, a flexible beam finger component with a plurality of axially-oriented flexible beam fingers, a tab sleeve component including one or more downward extending tabs, an annular detent ring component including a plurality of detents in radial alignment with the plurality of flexible beam fingers, and a wave spring disposed between the tab sleeve component and the annular detent ring component for providing a biasing force to urge the tab sleeve component in a direction of a central, longitudinal axis of the self-locking plug. The flexible beam finger component moves relative to the annular detent ring component when the body component is rotated about the central, longitudinal axis, A, of the self-locking plug, thereby causing the plurality of flexible beam fingers to travel across the plurality of detents and cause elastic deformation of the flexible beam fingers.