Split Housing Seal Assembly With Spiral Tape Preload

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing sealing arrangements for housing parts face challenges in achieving a tight seal while allowing for easy assembly, particularly with large and heavy components, often risking damage to the seal or inadequate sealing effectiveness.

Innovation Solution

A sealing arrangement using a flat sealing tape that extends along receiving grooves on both housing parts, with a spiral tape providing radial force to secure the sealing tape in place, ensuring a tight seal and facilitating assembly by using grooves with inclined or arcuate outer flanks that guide the tape into position.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If a sealing element is arranged in a continuous groove along the connection point of housing parts, then sealing effectiveness is improved, but the risk of damage to the seal during assembly increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesealing effectivenessVSAvoidassembly ease
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The sealing element is divided into two separate receiving grooves (first receiving groove in first housing part, second receiving groove in second housing part) instead of one continuous groove. This segmentation allows the sealing element to be inserted into one groove while the other groove receives the sealing element from the opposite side, reducing assembly difficulty and damage risk while maintaining sealing effectiveness.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The sealing element is pre-positioned in one receiving groove before the housing parts are assembled together. The grooves are designed with inclined outer flanks that guide the sealing element into proper position during assembly, ensuring the sealing element is already in place and correctly oriented before the final assembly step.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Device complexity

If the housing parts are joined together at the end surfaces, then structural simplicity is improved, but the gap between end surfaces becomes difficult to seal

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestructural simplicityVSAvoidsealing effectiveness
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

Instead of trying to seal the gap between end surfaces through complex multi-dimensional sealing structures, the solution uses simple receiving grooves cut into the end surfaces themselves. The grooves provide a defined path for the sealing element, transforming the sealing problem from a complex 3D gap-sealing challenge into a simpler linear sealing along the groove path.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

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 solution enables simple and reliable assembly while ensuring a tight seal, even under varying media pressures, by using a flat sealing tape and spiral tape combination, and geometrically designed grooves that prevent accidental contact and ensure secure sealing.

Implementation Method 1

a spiral tape extending along the first receiving groove, which is elastically deformed in the radial direction of the spiral band and is clamped in the first receiving groove and causes a radial force on the sealing plate

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectElastic deformation: Elasticity

Data Source

PatentEP3837457B1Seal assembly for a split housing
Publication Date: 2023.11.01 SIEMENS ENERGY GLOBAL GMBH & CO KG
  • EP3837457B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3837457B1 patent drawingFigure 2~5

AI summary

The invention relates to a seal arrangement (01) for sealing a gap between two housing parts (11, 21), the gap being situated between opposite end faces (13, 23) of the housing parts (11, 21). In the first housing part (11), there is a first receiving groove (14) on the first end face (13), in which first receiving groove (14) a sealing strip (06) is arranged which protrudes out of the receiving groove (14) and lies against a first outer flank (15). Said sealing strip (06) engages in an opposite second receiving groove (24) of the second housing part (21) and lies against a second outer flank (25). For position securing purposes and to achieve a sealing effect, even if there is no differential pressure, a spiral strip (07) is provided, which spiral strip (07) is situated in the first receiving groove (14) and exerts an elastic force on the sealing strip (06).