Watertight Electrical Compartment With Threaded Cap Retainer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Irrigation devices face challenges in maintaining a watertight electrical compartment, especially in environments where water, mud, and dirt can enter, causing damage to electronic components, and existing sealing solutions are difficult to open for maintenance or battery replacement.
Innovation Solution
A watertight electrical compartment design featuring a compartment body with a sealing section closer to the open end, a cap with a sliding fit over the sealing section, and a cap retainer with internal threads that mate with external threads on the compartment body, allowing for easy sealing and opening while preventing water and dirt ingress.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional sealed electrical compartment is used to prevent water and dirt ingress, then reliability is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates due to difficulty in opening for maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The electrical compartment is divided into separate components: a compartment body, a removable cap, and a cap retainer. This segmentation allows the cap to be easily removed for maintenance access while the body remains sealed, resolving the contradiction between protection and accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The cap retainer acts as an intermediary component that provides a threaded connection between the compartment body and cap. This mediator enables easy removal and reattachment of the cap without compromising the seal, allowing maintenance access while maintaining reliability.
2Reliability
If a cap with sealing ring is used to seal the compartment, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional components
Solution Approach 1:
The cap serves multiple functions: it provides the sealing surface for the sealing ring, acts as a removable cover for maintenance access, and interfaces with the cap retainer for secure attachment. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components, simplifying the overall design while maintaining reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing function is integrated into the cap-retainer assembly rather than being a separate mechanism. The sealing ring is positioned within the cap-retainer structure, combining the sealing, fastening, and sealing functions into a unified assembly that reduces overall complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A watertight electrical compartment for use in an irrigation device can include a compartment body having a chamber and a sealing section configured to mate with one or more sealing rings. A sealing cap can mate with the sealing section and/or the sealing rings to seal the chamber. A cap retainer can be advanced over at least a portion of the sealing cap. One of the compartment body and cap retainer can have internal threads to be screwed onto external threads of the other one of the compartment body and cap retainer. The cap retainer can also have a stopping feature to keep the sealing cap in its sealed position. The watertight electrical compartment can be used in a wireless flow sensor assembly, a battery operated irrigation controller, and/or a battery-operated central controller device, to provide irrigation control, and/or sensor information, without the need for AC power.