Vacuum-Sealable Sample Container With Hermetic Gas Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vacuum sealable containers lack mechanisms to prevent the release of entrained gases from extraterrestrial samples and maintain a hermetic seal across varying environmental conditions, posing risks of contamination and pressure imbalances.
Innovation Solution
A vacuum sealable container with a hermetic two-way seal, incorporating a planetary gearbox to adjust torque, a locking mechanism, and sealing members to securely attach the lid, along with a gas extraction device to manage volatile gases, ensuring airtight integrity and gas management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional vacuum sealable container is used, then the container can be sealed, but it cannot prevent the release of entrained gases from extraterrestrial samples
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing system is divided into multiple independent sealing members (first sealing member at the interface between lid and container body, second sealing member within the container body). This segmentation ensures that even if one sealing mechanism fails, the other maintains the hermetic seal, preventing gas release while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking assembly is configured to selectively tighten the lid body to the container body before the sealing members are fully engaged. This preliminary tightening action ensures that the sealing surfaces are properly aligned and pressed together, creating a reliable hermetic seal that can contain entrained gases from extraterrestrial samples.
2Ease of operation
If the lid is selectively coupled to the container body, then the container can be opened and closed, but maintaining a hermetic seal across varying environmental conditions becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The locking assembly provides dynamic tightening capability, allowing the lid to be selectively coupled to the container body with varying degrees of force. This dynamic adjustment ensures that the sealing members maintain adequate contact pressure across varying environmental conditions (temperature, pressure changes) while still allowing easy opening and closing when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing system uses composite sealing members that combine different materials with complementary properties. The first sealing member and second sealing member are configured to work together, with each material selected for its specific properties (elasticity, durability, sealing effectiveness), creating a composite sealing system that maintains hermetic integrity across diverse environmental conditions.
3Force
If a planetary gearbox is added to adjust torque, then the locking mechanism can apply greater force, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a complex planetary gearbox, the invention uses a simpler mechanical advantage system through the locking assembly's threaded or cam-based mechanism. This substitution achieves the necessary high locking force through direct mechanical leverage rather than through multiple gear stages, reducing device complexity while maintaining the required force application capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The locking assembly serves multiple functions: it applies high locking force to ensure hermetic sealing, it provides selective coupling capability for opening and closing, and it maintains sealing pressure across varying environmental conditions. By making the locking assembly multi-functional, the invention eliminates the need for separate torque-adjustment mechanisms like a planetary gearbox, thereby reducing overall device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A vacuum sealable container for securing and transporting extraterrestrial samples includes a container body and a lid assembly detachably coupled to the container body, the lid assembly selectively hermetically sealing the container body. The lid assembly includes an input shaft configured to receive a rotational input; a planetary gearbox including a sun gear fixed to the input shaft and at least one planetary gear configured to receive a torque input via the sun gear; an output shaft coupled to the at least one planetary gear; and a locking assembly coupled with the output shaft.