Ventilation Device Membrane Clamping Groove Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ventilation devices for wastewater treatment, such as air distributors, face challenges in achieving gas-tight and liquid-tight sealing, leading to potential leaks and increased manufacturing efforts.
Innovation Solution
A ventilation device with a flexible membrane film clamped to a support body using terminal strips, which engage in outer grooves to ensure a reliable and sealing clamp fastening, allowing targeted gas release while preventing water entry, and featuring a design that simplifies production and assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a membrane fastening system is used to achieve gas-tight and liquid-tight sealing, then sealing reliability is improved, but manufacturing effort and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The membrane fastening system is divided into separate components: a membrane element with mounting lugs, a support structure with receiving grooves, and fastening elements. This segmentation allows each component to be manufactured independently with standard processes, reducing overall manufacturing complexity while maintaining sealing reliability through the designed interface between parts.
Solution Approach 2:
Mounting lugs act as intermediary elements between the membrane element and the support structure. These lugs engage with receiving grooves to provide mechanical attachment and sealing contact, simplifying the fastening process while ensuring gas-tight and liquid-tight sealing without requiring complex welding or adhesive processes.
2Reliability
If a membrane film with small openings is used to prevent water entry, then liquid-tightness is improved, but gas release capability is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The membrane element has non-uniform local properties: the membrane portion has small openings (0.5-2 mm) for liquid-tight gas release, while the mounting lugs have larger openings for water drainage. This local differentiation allows the same component to achieve both liquid-tightness for ventilation and adequate gas release capability in different areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The membrane element is made from flexible material (0.3-1.0 mm thick) that can deform under pressure differentials. This flexibility allows the membrane to maintain small openings for liquid-tight gas release while permitting water to pass through the mounting lugs, achieving both sealing and drainage functions.
3Ease of manufacture
If the membrane film is made thin to reduce material usage, then cost-effectiveness is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The membrane element thickness is optimized to a specific range (0.3-1.0 mm, preferably 0.4-0.8 mm) that balances cost-effectiveness with manufacturability. This parameter selection ensures the membrane is thin enough to be cost-effective but thick enough to maintain dimensional stability and be manufacturable with standard precision tolerances using common processes like extrusion or molding.
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 provides a cost-effective, reliable, and easy-to-produce ventilation device that ensures gas-tight and liquid-tight operation, reducing the risk of leaks and improving assembly efficiency, making it suitable for wastewater treatment applications.
Implementation Method 1
The membrane film has at least one opening, and in particular several openings, which is large enough to allow the controlled release of gas, especially air, from the ventilation device, but also small enough to prevent water from entering the ventilation device
Implementation Method 2
The core of the invention consists in a membrane film, which is in particular a flexible and/or elastic sheet element, being clamped to a support body by means of clamping strips. The clamping strips engage in the outer grooves of the support body and are, in particular, arranged completely within the outer groove.
Data Source
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AI summary
A ventilation device comprises a support body (3) with two external grooves (9) each formed on a side surface (8) of the support body (3), a membrane film (4) attached to the support body (3), and a clamping strip (5) with which the membrane film (4) is clamped to the support body (3) by the clamping strip (5) engaging in the external groove (9).