Integrated Elastic Hose Structure With Embedded Textile Reinforcement
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flexible hoses, such as irrigation and garden hoses, are cumbersome to manufacture, heavy, bulky, and difficult to handle, with separate components requiring assembly and limited durability, making them inefficient and costly to produce and maintain.
Innovation Solution
A flexible hose design featuring a non-corrugated, non-coiled tubular structure with integrated polymeric layers and a textile reinforcement layer that automatically enlarges and retracts under fluid pressure, using suitable elastomers and thermoplastic elastomers, and textile yarns like polyester or nylon, allowing for easy handling and storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a hose uses a separate jacket and inner tube structure, then it can achieve predetermined inner diameter control, but it becomes difficult and cumbersome to manufacture with multiple assembly steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the jacket and inner tube into a single integrated hose structure where the textile reinforcement layer is directly embedded within the elastomeric matrix. This eliminates the need for separate manufacturing and assembly steps while maintaining precise inner diameter control through the unified structural design.
Solution Approach 2:
The hose utilizes a composite material structure consisting of an elastomeric matrix reinforced with embedded textile layers. This composite approach provides both the structural integrity for diameter control and the flexibility needed for enlargement under pressure, all within a single manufacturable component.
2Stability of the object's composition
If a hose is designed with separate jacket and inner tube components, then it can achieve structural flexibility, but it becomes heavy and bulky with limited durability
Solution Approach 1:
The integration of textile reinforcement layers within the elastomeric matrix creates a lightweight yet durable composite structure. The textile provides tensile strength and structural stability while the elastomer provides flexibility and lightweight characteristics, achieving both goals simultaneously without the weight penalty of separate components.
Solution Approach 2:
The hose employs thin elastomeric walls with embedded textile reinforcement that provide the necessary structural flexibility and durability. This thin-walled design reduces overall weight and bulkiness while maintaining the ability to enlarge and retract dynamically under pressure.
3Shape
If a hose uses traditional separate component assembly, then it can achieve predetermined structural form, but it requires specialized operators and is difficult to handle
Solution Approach 1:
By merging the jacket and inner tube into a single integrated structure, the hose eliminates the complexity of multi-component assembly and handling. The unified design allows standard operators to easily handle and deploy the hose without specialized training, while the embedded textile reinforcement maintains the necessary structural form.
4Area of moving object
If a hose is designed to be enlargeable under pressure, then it can increase inner diameter dynamically, but it requires complex multi-layer construction that is difficult to manufacture
Solution Approach 1:
The elastomeric matrix combined with embedded textile reinforcement creates a structure that naturally enlarges under pressure. The elastomer provides the necessary elasticity for diameter increase while the textile layers provide structural guidance, achieving dynamic enlargement through material properties rather than complex mechanical construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The hose utilizes changes in material properties under pressure - the elastomeric matrix becomes more compliant and expands, while the embedded textile reinforcement directs and controls this expansion. This parameter change approach enables dynamic inner diameter adjustment through simple material behavior rather than complex active mechanisms.
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 hose is lightweight, easy to manufacture, has high burst pressure, minimal bulkiness, and can be customized in length, with automatic retraction and easy cleaning, maintaining performance comparable to traditional hoses while being simpler and more practical to use.
Implementation Method 1
The flexible hose may comprise at least one inner layer of a first polymeric elastic material, at least an outer layer of a second polymeric elastic material... such as to automatically enlarge and possibly elongate under the pressure imparted by the working fluid that flows therethrough to increase its original diameter and possibly its original length and such as to retract automatically once the working pressure stops
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible hose for transporting a fluid, particularly a flexible garden hose for transporting water, includes an inner layer made of a first elastic polymeric material; an outer layer made of a second elastic polymeric material; and a textile reinforcement layer interposed therebetween. The inner and outer layers are reciprocally coupled to form a unitary tubular member, internally to which the textile reinforcement layer is embedded. The elasticity of the unitary tubular member causes it to automatically enlarge under the working pressure given by the liquid flowing therethrough to increase its original diameter and to automatically recover to assume again its original diameter once the working pressure stops. The textile reinforcement layer is susceptible to move from a rest configuration, when there is no working pressure, to a working configuration, when the unitary tubular member enlarges upon under the working pressure.