Flexible, abrasion resistant textile sleeve and method of construction thereof

Abstract

A textile sleeve for routing and protecting elongate members and method of construction thereof is provided. The sleeve includes an elongate wall having opposite edges extending parallel to a central axis of the sleeve. The wall is woven with warp yams extending parallel to the axis and fill yarns extending transverse to the warp yams. The warp yarns are provided as monofilament yarns to provide abrasion resistance and the fill yams are provided as both monofilament yams to provide further abrasion resistance and multifilament yams to provide increased coverage, maintain flexibility, and to maintain the warp monofilaments in their intended position.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61 / 186,174, filed Jun. 11, 2009, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]1. Technical Field[0003]This invention relates generally to textile sleeves for protecting elongate members, and more particularly to woven sleeves. 2. Related Art[0004]It is known to wrap wires and wire harnesses in protective sleeves, such as in automobiles, aircraft or aerospace craft, to provide protection to the wires against abrasion, fluid and thermal affects. In order to achieve the desired protection, the protective sleeve may have multiple layers, with some of the layers being specifically provided for different types of protection. For example, one layer may be provided for water resistance, e.g. a sheet of plastic material, while another layer may be provided for abrasion resistance, and yet another layer may be provided for prote...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005]One aspect of the invention provides a woven sleeve for routing and protecting elongate members from exposure to abrasion and other environmental conditions, such as contamination. The sleeve has a flexible, abrasion resistant, self-curling elongate wall constructed from woven monofilament and multifilament yarns. The wall has opposite edges extending generally parallel to a central axis of the sleeve, wherein the opposite edges are biased into a self-curled overlapping relation with one another. The wall is woven with warp monofilament yarns and fill monofilament and multifilament yams. The warp monofilament yarns provide the sleeve with abrasion resistance; the fill monofilament yams provide the self-curling bias to the wall, while also providing enhanced abrasion resistance, while the fill multifilament yarns provide further protection to the elongate members within the sleeve by inhibiting the ingress of contamination, debris and the like, while also providing the sleeve with enhanced flexibility and imparting friction on the warp monofilaments to maintain the warp monofilaments in their intended, as woven position.

[0009]A sleeve constructed in accordance with the invention not only provides enhanced protection to elongate members contained therein, but is also economical in manufacture.

Problems solved by technology

Unfortunately, although the aforementioned multilayer sleeves may provide suitable protection against the various environmental conditions, they are typically bulky, thereby requiring an increased volume of space, being relatively heavy and exhibiting limited flexibility.

This can prove detrimental in some applications, particularly applications requiring routing through tight, winding areas, and applications having weight restrictions, such as aircraft and aerospace applications, for example.

However, having to use a tight weave typically comes at an increased cost.

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