Braided Textile Sleeve Axial Flexibility Anti-Kinking Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Braided textile sleeves tend to flatten and kink when installed over lengthy elongate members or sharp bends, complicating the installation process due to their inherent material properties.
Innovation Solution
A tubular sleeve with a braided wall featuring alternating regions of increased stiffness and decreased stiffness, where heat-set monofilament yarns form convex ridges and non-heat-settable multifilament yarns create concave valleys, allowing for axial flexibility and resistance to kinking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the braided wall is made as a continuous seamless structure, then the sleeve can be circumferentially expanded for installation, but the sleeve tends to flatten and kink when installed over lengthy elongate members or sharp bends
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous braided wall is segmented into alternating first regions with higher stiffness and second regions with lower stiffness. This segmentation allows the sleeve to maintain structural integrity while providing flexible zones that can accommodate bending and routing without kinking, resolving the contradiction between installation ease and kink resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the braided wall are given different local qualities - the first regions have increased stiffness to prevent flattening and maintain shape, while the second regions have decreased stiffness to provide axial flexibility and compressibility. This local differentiation enables the sleeve to resist kinking while remaining easy to install over lengthy members and sharp bends.
2Strength
If the braided wall is made with uniform stiffness, then the structure is simple, but the sleeve cannot simultaneously resist flattening and provide axial flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The braided wall features alternating regions with different stiffness characteristics. The first regions have higher stiffness to resist circumferential compression and prevent flattening, while the second regions have lower stiffness to provide axial flexibility for routing about bends. This local quality differentiation resolves the contradiction between strength and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The uniform structure is divided into alternating segments of high-stiffness first regions and low-stiffness second regions. This segmentation allows the sleeve to exhibit both resistance to circumferential compression and axial flexibility simultaneously, as different segments perform different functions along the length of the sleeve.
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 sleeve can be easily installed over long, meandering elongate members and around sharp bends without kinking, maintaining its structural integrity and outer shape, simplifying the assembly process.
Implementation Method 1
at least some of the braided yarns including heat-set yarns
Data Source
AI summary
A protective textile sleeve and method of construction thereof are provided. The sleeve has a tubular wall of braided yarns extending lengthwise along a central longitudinal axis between opposite ends. At least some of the braided yarns including heat-set yarns, and the wall has a plurality of annular first regions forming generally convex ridges and a plurality of annular second regions forming generally concave valleys. The first regions alternate with the second regions along the central longitudinal axis. The first regions include a plurality of twisted yarns forming a plurality of closed loops, wherein at least some of the braided yarns pass through at least some of the closed loops within the first regions to enhance the radial stiffness and resistance of the wall to kinking.