Garment-to-Appendage Seal Interface for Hazardous Environments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing garments, particularly those designed for hazardous environments, lack a secure and easily attachable interface between cuffs/ collar and associated gloves/footwear/headgear, which complicates donning and fails to effectively prevent hazardous material ingress.
Innovation Solution
A selectively attachable garment-to-appendage interface featuring a first portion with a projection and a second portion with a groove, allowing for a sealed connection between the garment and appendages like gloves or hoods, using resilient materials and hook-and-loop fasteners for secure attachment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a secure seal interface is implemented between garment cuffs/collar and appendages, then protection against hazardous material ingress is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional sealing structures
Solution Approach 1:
The seal interface is divided into two separate portions: a first portion integrated with the garment (cuffs or collar) and a second portion integrated with the appendage (gloves, footwear, or headwear). This segmentation allows each portion to be independently designed and attached, simplifying the overall structure while maintaining effective sealing capability through the complementary projection-groove engagement between the two portions.
2Ease of operation
If a selectively attachable interface is added to facilitate easy donning, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases due to additional attachment components
Solution Approach 1:
The first portion of the seal interface is pre-attached to the garment during manufacturing, while the second portion is pre-attached to the appendage. This preliminary attachment eliminates the need for complex fastening operations during donning, as users simply need to align and engage the pre-configured projection-groove interfaces, significantly simplifying the donning process.
3Reliability
If resilient materials and hook-and-loop fasteners are used for the seal interface, then reliability of sealing is improved, but ease of manufacture decreases due to specialized material requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The seal interface utilizes composite construction by combining resilient sealing materials (such as rubber or elastomers) with hook-and-loop fastening materials (such as Velcro®). This composite approach integrates multiple material properties into a single functional component, achieving both reliable sealing through the resilient material deformation and secure attachment through the mechanical interlocking of the fastener systems.
Data Source
AI summary
A selectively attachable garment-to-appendage interface including a seal having a first portion to a garment and a second portion coupled to an appendage such as a glove, a hood or footwear. The first portion includes one of a projection or a groove. The second portion includes the other of the projection or a groove. The projection and the groove are configured to releasably engage for selectively attaching the garment to the appendage.