Delamination Pocket for Reusable RFID in Protective Clothing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electrical utility workers face challenges in safely working on high-voltage power lines due to the risk of electrical shock, and existing protective clothing does not efficiently incorporate advanced safety features or reusable technologies.
Innovation Solution
The development of protective clothing with delamination pockets that securely house RFID devices or other electronic components, allowing for energy harvesting from AC electric fields and providing features like field strength monitoring and warning systems, while enabling the reuse of expensive devices by recovering them at the end of the article's life.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If protective clothing is manufactured with embedded electronic devices, then worker safety and monitoring capabilities are improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
A pocket is created during the manufacturing process before the final product is completed. This preliminary action allows electronic devices to be easily inserted and secured without requiring complex post-manufacturing assembly operations, thus improving reliability while controlling manufacturing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The protective clothing is divided into separate functional layers with a dedicated pocket structure. This segmentation isolates the electronic device within a specific compartment, simplifying the overall manufacturing process by treating the device housing as a separate module that can be independently created and assembled
2Reliability
If expensive electronic devices are embedded in consumable protective clothing, then worker safety is improved, but the cost of the protective clothing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pocket is designed to allow easy removal and recovery of expensive electronic devices when the protective clothing reaches end-of-life or needs replacement. This enables the costly electronic components to be reused in new protective clothing items, significantly reducing the overall cost while maintaining worker safety capabilities
Solution Approach 2:
The pocket structure is pre-formed during manufacturing with features that facilitate future device removal and recovery. This preliminary design enables cost-effective reuse of electronic devices across multiple protective clothing cycles, reducing the total cost of ownership
3Quantity of substance
If protective clothing includes reusable electronic devices, then long-term cost is reduced, but the complexity of device retrieval and reuse processes increases
Solution Approach 1:
The pocket is constructed with pre-integrated closure mechanisms (such as zippers, Velcro, or snap fasteners) that are installed during manufacturing. This preliminary action eliminates the need for complex tool-based assembly or disassembly operations during device retrieval, making the reuse process simple and straightforward while reducing long-term costs
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
This solution enhances worker safety by providing real-time monitoring and warning systems while reducing the cost of protective clothing through the reuse of embedded devices, improving safety and operational efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
The electronic device may harvest energy from an AC electric field
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
An article of protective clothing (110, 200, 300, 400, 500). The article of protective clothing (110, 200, 300, 400, 500) comprises an inner rubber layer (305) and an outer rubber layer (310) laminated over the inner rubber layer (305) excepting at a local delamination area between the inner rubber layer and the outer rubber layer that defines a delamination pocket (120, 205, 315, 410, 515).