Quadrilateral Tapered Seal Ring for Low Friction Sealing
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional contaminant-sealing devices for solenoid valves face issues with increased friction and space requirements due to pressure fluctuations, and they often compromise sealing performance across varying temperatures.
Innovation Solution
A contaminant-sealing device featuring a quadrilateral seal ring with a taper, supported by an elastic material within an annular groove, and optionally an O-ring on the side surface, which minimizes friction and maintains sealing performance across a wide temperature range without increasing the device's size or requiring excessive thrust force.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a regular packing seal mechanism is provided to prevent contaminant ingress, then sealing performance is improved, but friction increases due to focus on sealing performance
Solution Approach 1:
The seal ring is designed with non-uniform cross-sectional area along its circumference, creating different sealing characteristics at different locations. The larger cross-sectional area provides enhanced sealing capability where needed, while the smaller areas reduce friction in other regions, thus resolving the contradiction between sealing performance and friction reduction.
2Force
If the area of the lip sliding part is reduced to minimize sliding movement, then friction is reduced, but the seal cannot withstand pressure above a certain level
Solution Approach 1:
The seal ring incorporates a non-uniform cross-sectional area distribution, with larger areas positioned to withstand high pressure loads and smaller areas in regions where friction reduction is prioritized. This localized variation in geometry allows the seal to simultaneously achieve low friction and high pressure resistance.
3Stability of the object's composition
If a side ring and back ring are fitted in addition to a seal ring to block fluid pressure, then friction stability is improved, but device complexity and space requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the functions of multiple separate sealing components (side ring, back ring, and seal ring) into a single integrated seal ring with a non-uniform cross-sectional area. This unified structure performs the functions of blocking fluid pressure and maintaining friction stability while reducing the total number of components and simplifying the device architecture.
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 solution reduces friction and maintains effective sealing across temperature variations, preventing foreign matter ingress without enlarging the valve and minimizing thrust force requirements.
Implementation Method 1
a space between a bottom surface of the seal ring and the inner surface of the annular groove being filled with an elastic material
Data Source
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AI summary
[Object] In view of a perfect seal being less necessary for a contaminant seal than for a fluid seal, it is an object of the present invention to use a seal ring having a seal part configured so that a contact area of the seal part is reduced and the seal part will not be compromised under pressure of a sealed fluid, whereby a contaminant-sealing device that takes up less space, and that operates with less friction, is provided. [Means for solving the problems] A contaminant-sealing device according to the present invention is characterized in that, in a sealing device comprising a rotating or reciprocatingly moving seal ring attached to one of two mutually opposed members and slidably placed in intimate contact with the other member, the seal ring has a cross-sectional shape that is quadrilateral and has a taper so that a surface of a sliding part is lower towards a high-pressure side and higher towards a low-pressure side, [the seal ring] being disposed so that a fluid body on the high-pressure side acts on the tapered part.