Extensible Flexible Hose Structure With Embedded Textile Reinforcement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing extensible flexible hoses for irrigation or garden hoses face challenges such as difficulty in manufacturing, high bulkiness, low burst pressure, and impracticality for storage and use, due to their complex structures and materials, which limit customization and maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A flexible hose design featuring a non-corrugated, non-coiled tubular structure with integrated polymeric layers and a textile reinforcement layer, allowing for automatic elongation and retraction under fluid pressure without external coils or springs, and enabling easy cleaning and repair.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of moving object
If a complex structure with external coils or springs is used to achieve extensibility, then the hose can elongate under pressure, but the device becomes bulky and difficult to store
Solution Approach 1:
The invention removes the external coils or springs from the hose structure, extracting the extensibility function into the polymeric material itself through elastic memory properties, thereby eliminating the bulky components while maintaining elongation capability
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the physical parameters of the polymeric material to achieve extensibility, using materials with specific elastic memory properties that allow the hose to elongate under pressure and retract when pressure is released, without requiring additional mechanical components
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate layers are assembled manually to create the hose structure, then customization is possible, but manufacturing becomes time-consuming and labor-intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges multiple separate layers into a single co-extruded multi-layer polymeric structure, allowing all layers to be manufactured simultaneously in one continuous process rather than assembled manually, thereby dramatically increasing productivity while maintaining structural integrity
Solution Approach 2:
The invention uses composite polymeric materials with different properties in each layer (inner elastic layer for extensibility, middle reinforcement layer for strength, outer protective layer for durability) that are co-extruded together, achieving both customization and high-speed automated manufacturing
3Length of moving object
If elastic materials with high extensibility are used, then the hose can elongate significantly, but the burst pressure resistance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention creates a composite multi-layer polymeric structure where the inner layer provides high extensibility through elastic memory properties, the middle layer provides reinforcement with higher tensile strength to resist burst pressure, and the outer layer provides protective characteristics, achieving both significant elongation and high burst pressure resistance through material composition rather than single-material properties
Solution Approach 2:
The invention nests multiple functional layers within each other in a concentric structure, with the elastic inner layer nested within the reinforcement middle layer, which is nested within the protective outer layer, allowing each layer to contribute its specific property while working together as an integrated system
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 solution provides a lightweight, durable, and easily storable hose with high burst pressure, facilitating automatic manufacturing, easy maintenance, and customizable length, while maintaining the practicality of traditional hoses.
Implementation Method 1
The flexible hose comprises at least one inner layer of a first polymeric elastic material, at least an outer layer of a second polymeric elastic material... having an elasticity such as to automatically elongate and enlarge under the pressure imparted by the working fluid
Data Source
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AI summary
A flexible hose for transporting fluid, particularly a flexible garden hose for transporting water. The hose comprises: at least one inner layer (10) made of a first elastic polymeric material; at least one outer layer (20) made of a second elastic polymeric material; at least one textile reinforcement layer (30, 40) interposed between said at least one inner layer (10) and at least one outer layer (20). The at least one inner layer (10) and the at least one outer layer (20) are reciprocally coupled to form a unitary tubular member (50) internally to which the at least one textile reinforcement layer (30, 40) is embedded. The unitary tubular member (50) has an elasticity such to automatically elongate upon the working pressure given by the liquid flowing therethrough to increase its original length and such to automatically recovery once the working pressure stops for assuming again the original length. The at least one textile reinforcement layer (30, 40) is susceptible to move from a rest configuration that has when the working pressure stops to a working configuration that has when said unitary tubular member (50) elongates upon the working pressure and vice-versa.