Watch Escape Valve Structure for Helium Release and Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manual helium valves in diver's watches are prone to sealing deterioration when in an open configuration, leading to potential misalignment and loss of sealing due to radial forces, which can cause damage during decompression.
Innovation Solution
A separate piston and valve head design with axial guide elements and blocking elements that prevent disassociation between the valve head and tube, ensuring secure sealing even under radial forces, and a pressure control module with a sealing element that allows fluid communication only when internal pressure exceeds a predetermined value.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the valve head is untightened to open the valve for helium evacuation, then the valve can evacuate excess fluid, but the sealing of the watch case deteriorates due to misalignment caused by radial forces
Solution Approach 1:
The valve is divided into separate functional components: the valve head for operation, the piston for pressure control, and the tube for fluid conduit. This segmentation allows the valve head to be manipulated independently for opening/closing while the piston remains positioned by blocking elements to maintain sealing integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
Blocking elements are introduced as intermediary components between the valve head and the tube. These blocking elements prevent radial displacement of the piston while allowing the valve head to be manipulated, thus mediating between the need for valve operation and the need to maintain sealing.
2Ease of operation
If the valve head is manipulated for tightening/untightening operations, then the valve can be opened or closed, but radial forces cause misalignment and loss of sealing
Solution Approach 1:
The valve head is separated from the pressure control piston, allowing independent manipulation of the valve head without affecting piston position. The blocking elements further segment the system to prevent radial forces from the valve head from transmitting to the piston.
Solution Approach 2:
The piston is extracted from direct connection to the valve head and placed inside the tube with blocking elements preventing its radial displacement. This extraction allows the valve head to be manipulated freely while the piston maintains sealing independently.
3Device complexity
If the piston is connected to the valve head as in conventional valves, then the valve operates simply, but radial forces on the valve head cause piston misalignment and sealing loss
Solution Approach 1:
The conventional direct connection between piston and valve head is segmented into separate components. The piston is placed inside the tube with blocking elements, while the valve head operates independently, eliminating the transmission of radial forces to the piston.
Solution Approach 2:
Blocking elements serve as intermediaries that prevent radial displacement of the piston while allowing the valve head to be manipulated. This intermediary structure maintains sealing reliability without requiring complex additional mechanisms.
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 effectively prevents loss of sealing and ensures the integrity of the watch case by maintaining secure valve operation and fluid evacuation, even under impact or pressure variations, thereby protecting the watch from helium-induced overpressure.
Implementation Method 1
a piston connected to the valve head which is adapted to exert a pressure on a seal while cooperating with a spring in order to regulate the pressure in the interior of the watch case
Implementation Method 2
a membrane arranged to be permeable to the gases and to establish a fluid communication from the interior of the case towards the exterior when said internal pressure exceeds a predetermined value and impermeable to the liquids circulating from the exterior of the case towards the interior of the case
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to an escape valve for a timepiece including an outlet channel arranged to be capable of being in fluid communication with the interior of a case of the timepiece when the valve is in an open configuration to evacuate an excess of fluid. The valve includes a tube to be fixed in the case of the timepiece and a valve head provided with a cover and an axial skirt adapted to be placed in different axial positions, a pressure control module separate from the valve head arranged in the interior of a fluid conduit provided in the tube and axial guide elements by screwing defined in the valve head and the tube playing a part in the control of the displacement of the valve head relative to tube in the different axial positions, blocking elements preventing a disassociation between the valve head and the tube.