Toroidal Fluid Swivel Axial Interface Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing toroidal fluid swivels for high-pressure fluid transfer across rotary interfaces face challenges with excessive wall thickness, weight, and complex seal designs due to radial forces, which become unmanageable as diameter increases, and require massive parts for proper functioning, impacting design, maintenance, and cost.
Innovation Solution
A toroidal fluid swivel design with a fixed and rotating annular element, where one element features a toroidal cavity and the other a flat circular end surface, creating a rotary interface perpendicular to the rotation axis, reducing hoop stresses and allowing for counterbalancing radial forces, thus minimizing the need for thick walls and complex seals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a radial interface is used between fixed and rotating annular elements, then rotation is enabled, but wall thickness increases due to added pressure exposure surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a radial interface (cylindrical surface) to an axial interface (planar surface perpendicular to rotation axis). This dimensional change reorients the pressure exposure from radial to axial direction, allowing the use of thinner walls while maintaining structural integrity during rotation.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of having the rotating element rotate around a radial interface as in conventional designs, the patent inverts the approach by creating a planar axial interface where the rotating element rotates on top of the fixed element. This inversion eliminates the cylindrical pressure exposure and replaces it with a manageable planar sealing surface.
2Productivity
If high pressure fluid transfer is implemented, then flow capability is improved, but hoop stress and deformation increase requiring heavier construction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the orientation of the pressure-containing interface from radial to axial. By doing so, the high pressure fluid acts primarily in the axial direction on the planar interface rather than creating circumferential hoop stresses on cylindrical surfaces, allowing for lighter construction while maintaining high flow capability.
3Productivity
If swivel diameter is increased, then fluid transfer capacity is improved, but radial force on interface increases requiring unmanageable wall thickness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves the scaling problem by changing from a radial to an axial interface. This allows the swivel diameter to be increased for higher fluid transfer capacity without proportionally increasing the radial forces on the interface, since the primary loading is now axial on a planar surface rather than radial on a cylindrical surface.
4Reliability
If complex face seal design is used to counteract expansion, then sealing reliability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent simplifies the sealing requirement by changing from a radial to an axial interface. The planar axial interface provides a more favorable sealing surface that is easier to manufacture and maintain while achieving comparable or superior sealing reliability, eliminating the need for complex face seal designs.
Data Source
AI summary
A swivel for transfer of fluid across a rotary interface around a swivel rotation axis between an incoming fluid line and an outgoing product piping includes a fixed annular element and a rotating annular element, each arranged around a common rotation axis and having a substantially equal diameter. One selected element from the fixed annular and rotating annular elements includes an annular disk provided with a toroidal cavity in a first of its circular end surfaces, and the other selected element is arranged with a flat circular end surface adjacent to and in close proximity above the first circular end surface to close the toroidal cavity and form a toroidal chamber with the annular disk. The rotary interface is perpendicular to the rotation axis, and is formed by the flat circular end surface of the other selected element and the adjacent first circular surface of the one selected element.