Valve Cap Torque Coupling for Easier Inflatable Valve Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Threaded inflate valves on inflatable water sports equipment often become difficult to unthread when the bladder is fully inflated, making deflation challenging due to the taut membrane and lack of a suitable grip for the valve body.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a valve cap with a circumferential slot that allows bidirectional rotational engagement with the valve base, enabling greater torque application for easier engagement and disengagement by transmitting torque through abutting surfaces, facilitating both inflation and deflation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the valve base is threaded directly onto the substrate without a cap, then the structure is simpler, but the user cannot apply sufficient torque to unthread the valve base when the bladder is fully inflated
Solution Approach 1:
The valve cap serves as an intermediary component between the user's hand and the valve base. It provides a gripping surface that allows the user to apply torque to the valve base for unthreading it from the substrate, solving the problem of insufficient grip on the valve base itself.
2Ease of operation
If the valve cap is designed with a large grip surface, then torque application is improved, but the cap size increases
Solution Approach 1:
The valve cap is designed with a localized enlarged gripping surface or rim that provides the necessary torque application area, while the rest of the cap maintains a compact size. This allows improved ease of operation without significantly increasing the overall cap area.
3Ease of operation
If the valve cap is spaced apart from the substrate, then mounting and removal is easier, but the protective function is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The valve cap is designed to be dynamically positionable - it can be spaced apart from the substrate during mounting and removal operations to facilitate easy handling, and then positioned close to the substrate during normal operation to provide protective coverage. This dynamic positioning resolves the contradiction between ease of operation and protective function.
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 design enhances the ease of mounting and removing the valve base from the substrate, improving the usability of inflatable devices by allowing bidirectional torque application, which simplifies the inflation and deflation process.
Implementation Method 1
torque applied to the cap can be transmitted to the base to be used to effect engagement and disengagement of the base with the substrate
Implementation Method 2
the body and the base abutting each other, at each of the first and second terminal ends, so as to prevent rotation between the body and the base
Data Source
AI summary
A valve assembly for mounting on a substrate via rotational engagement with a base of the valve assembly, and a cap for such a valve assembly. A body of the cap is rotatably engageable with the base between opposing first and second terminal ends. At each of the first and second terminal ends, the body and the base abut each other to prevent rotation between the body and the base. As a result, torque applied to the cap is transmitted to the base to vary rotational engagement of the base with the substrate. A slot formed in the cap may be suitable to receive a protrusion on the base and may fork into two separate portions that terminate in opposing terminal ends to allow selective engagement of the protrusion with the two portions. The protrusion abuts against the terminal ends to transmit torque from the cap to the base.