Variable depth seal grooves, systems, and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025377039-A1
Application number	US-202519227784-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 4, 2025
Priority date	Jun 5, 2024
Publication date	Dec 11, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

A sealable chamber may include a chamber aperture, an aperture border, a first surface encompassing the chamber aperture, a chamber door having a second surface configured to at least partially engage against the first surface of the aperture border, and a seal positioned intermediate the first surface and the second surface. The chamber door may have a non-circular shape. At least a portion of the second surface of the chamber door may exhibit nonuniform deflection relative to the first surface of the aperture border when a compression force is applied to the chamber door to compress the second surface against the first surface. An exposed height of the seal intermediate the first surface and the second surface may be configured to vary and compensate for the nonuniform deflection to maintain a hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A sealable chamber comprising:
a chamber aperture; an aperture border comprising a first surface encompassing the chamber aperture; a chamber door comprising a second surface configured to at least partially engage against the first surface of the aperture border; and a seal positioned intermediate the first surface and the second surface, wherein:
the chamber door comprises a non-circular shape;
at least a portion of the second surface of the chamber door exhibits nonuniform deflection relative to the first surface of the aperture border when a compression force is applied to the chamber door to compress the second surface against the first surface; and
an exposed height of the seal intermediate the first surface and the second surface is configured to vary to compensate for the nonuniform deflection and maintain a hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

2 . The sealable chamber of claim 1 , wherein:
at least one of:
the first surface of the aperture border; and
the second surface of the chamber door, comprises a groove configured to at least partially receive the seal therein; and
a depth of the groove is configured to vary the exposed height of the seal to compensate for the nonuniform deflection and maintain the hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

3 . The sealable chamber of claim 2 , wherein:
the first surface of the aperture border comprises the groove configured to at least partially receive the seal therein; and the depth of the groove in the first surface is configured to vary the exposed height of the seal to compensate for the nonuniform deflection and maintain the hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

4 . The sealable chamber of claim 2 , wherein:
the second surface of the chamber door comprises the groove configured to at least partially receive the seal therein; and the depth of the groove in the second surface is configured to vary the exposed height of the seal to compensate for the nonuniform deflection and maintain the hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

5 . The sealable chamber of claim 2 , wherein the groove comprises:
a first depth at a first location within the groove; and a second depth at a second location within the groove, wherein the depth of the groove is configured to continuously decrease moving from the first depth at the first location toward the second depth at the second location to vary the exposed height of the seal and compensate for the nonuniform deflection to maintain the hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

6 . The sealable chamber of claim 2 , wherein the groove comprises:
a first depth at a first location within the groove; and a second depth at a second location within the groove, wherein the depth of the groove is configured to discretely decrease moving from the first depth at the first location toward the second depth at the second location to vary the exposed height of the seal and compensate for the nonuniform deflection to maintain the hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

7 . The sealable chamber of claim 1 , wherein the non-circular shape of the chamber door comprises at least one of:
a polygonal shape comprising at least one straight side; and a curved shape comprising at least one curved side.

8 . A sealable chamber comprising:
a chamber aperture; an aperture border comprising a first surface encompassing the chamber aperture; a chamber door comprising:
a polygonal shape; and
a second surface configured to at least partially engage against the first surface of the aperture border; and
a seal positioned intermediate the first surface of the aperture border and the second surface of the chamber door,
wherein:
at least a portion of the second surface of the chamber door exhibits nonuniform deflection relative to the first surface of the aperture border when a compression force is applied to the chamber door to compress the second surface against the first surface; and
an exposed height of the seal intermediate the first surface and the second surface is configured to vary to compensate for the nonuniform deflection and maintain a hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

9 . The sealable chamber of claim 8 , wherein:
at least one of:
the first surface of the aperture border; and
the second surface of the chamber door, comprises a groove configured to at least partially receive the seal therein; and
a depth of the groove is configured to vary the exposed height of the seal to compensate for the nonuniform deflection and maintain the hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

10 . The sealable chamber of claim 9 , wherein:
the second surface of the chamber door comprises the groove configured to at least partially receive the seal therein; and the depth of the groove in the second surface is configured to vary the exposed height of the seal to compensate for the nonuniform deflection and maintain the hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

11 . The sealable chamber of claim 9 , wherein the groove comprises:
an intermediate depth at an intermediate portion along at least one side of the chamber door; and a corner depth at a corner of the chamber door, wherein the depth of the groove is configured to decrease moving from the intermediate depth toward the corner depth to vary the exposed height of the seal and compensate for the nonuniform deflection to maintain the hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

12 . The sealable chamber of claim 8 , wherein the polygonal shape of the chamber door comprises at least three sides and at least three corners.

13 . The sealable chamber of claim 12 , wherein the polygonal shape comprises at least one of:
a triangular shape; a square shape; a rectangular shape; a trapezoidal shape; and a rhomboid shape.

14 . The sealable chamber of claim 8 , further comprising a compression mechanism configured to apply the compression force to the chamber door to compress the second surface against the first surface.

15 . A sealable chamber comprising:
a sealable chamber wall comprising:
a chamber aperture formed therethrough; and
an aperture border comprising a first surface encompassing the chamber aperture;
a chamber door comprising:
a curved shape; and
a second surface configured to at least partially engage against the first surface of the sealable chamber wall; and
a seal positioned intermediate the first surface of the sealable chamber wall and the second surface of the chamber door,
wherein:
at least a portion of the second surface of the chamber door exhibits nonuniform deflection relative to the first surface of the sealable chamber wall when a compression force is applied to the chamber door to compress the second surface against the first surface; and
an exposed height of the seal intermediate the first surface and the second surface is configured to vary to compensate for the nonuniform deflection and maintain a hermetic seal between the first surface and the second surface.

16 . The sealable chamber of claim 15 , wherein:
at least one of:
the first surface of the sealable chamber wall; and
the second surface of the chamber door, comprises a groove configured to at least partially receive the seal therein; and
a depth of the groove is configured to vary the exposed height of the seal to compensate for the nonunif

Assignees

• Battelle Energy Alliance Llc

Inventors

• Petersen Nathan M

Classifications

• E06B7/22

  by means of elastic edgings, e.g. elastic rubber tubes; by means of resilient edgings, e.g. felt or plush strips, resilient metal strips (E06B7/18 takes precedence) · CPC title

• F16J15/062 Primary

  characterised by the geometry of the seat · CPC title