Hook-and-Loop Tube Fastening for Flexible Floor Heating Layouts
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional tube fastening structures for radiant floor heating systems face challenges such as lengthy installation times, high manufacturing costs, and limited changeability of tube locations, as they often rely on clips, grouting, or specialized tube designs that increase costs and risk tube disconnection.
Innovation Solution
A tube fastening structure featuring a bottom layer with loop members and a fastening element with hook members that securely fasten tubes by mechanical engagement, allowing for easy relocation and reducing installation time while maintaining low manufacturing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If clips and metal wire are used to fasten tubes on the ground with grouting process, then the tubes can be secured, but the installation time becomes very long and there is risk of tube displacement before grouting
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical fastening system (clips, metal wire, grouting) with a hook-and-loop fastening system. The hook members engage with loop members to provide immediate mechanical fixation without requiring grouting or complex metal wire arrangements, thus reducing installation time while maintaining tube security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the fastening mechanism from a multi-step process (positioning clips, laying metal wire, grouting) to a single-step hook-and-loop engagement. This parameter change in the fastening process eliminates the time-consuming grouting step and provides immediate fixation reliability.
2Reliability
If metal wire and clips are used to fasten tubes, then tubes can be secured, but the process requires lots of attention and time for continuous type loops
Solution Approach 1:
The patent substitutes the complex mechanical system of clips and metal wire with a simpler hook-and-loop fastening system. The hook members can be quickly attached to loop members along continuous tube loops without requiring careful wire routing or multiple fastening operations, significantly improving installation efficiency while maintaining connection reliability.
3Reliability
If a channel is pre-formed in the ground for tube burial, then tube displacement risk is reduced, but construction time increases and location changeability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a dynamic fastening system using hook-and-loop members that allows tube locations to be adjusted before final engagement. The hooks can be temporarily positioned and repositioned along the loop members, providing both position stability when engaged and location changeability during installation, unlike fixed pre-formed channels.
4Reliability
If tubes with special fastening members on outer surface are used, then tubes can be secured by engagement with bottom layer, but manufacturing cost increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the fastening system into two separate components: hook members attached to the tube and loop members in the bottom layer. This segmentation allows the tube itself to remain a standard, easily manufactured component, while the fastening functionality is provided by separate, inexpensive hook-and-loop materials. This reduces tube manufacturing cost compared to incorporating special fastening members directly into the tube.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces hook members as intermediary elements that connect the tube to the bottom layer without requiring modifications to the tube itself. These hook members serve as mediators that provide fastening functionality while keeping the tube manufacturing process simple and cost-effective.
5Productivity
If hook members are used to fasten continuous type tubes, then installation time is reduced, but care must be taken to prevent disconnection during relocation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-attaching hook members to the continuous tube loops during tube installation, before the tube is laid out in its final configuration. This allows the hooks to be properly positioned and engaged with loop members in sequence, reducing the risk of disconnection during relocation while maintaining fast installation speed.
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 proposed structure securely fastens tubes with reduced installation time, lower costs, and higher changeability of tube locations, enhancing both fixity and flexibility in the radiant floor heating system.
Implementation Method 1
a tube fastening structure comprising a bottom layer having a surface of loop members, and a fastening element having a plurality of hook members on a surface
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention relates to a tube fastening structure for fastening a tube (9) in a radiant floor heating system, the tube fastening structure comprising a bottom layer (1) and at least one fastening element (2). The bottom layer (1) is fixed on ground and has a surface of loop members. The fastening element (2) has a plurality of hook members (20) on a first surface thereof, and the plurality of hook members (20) are configured to be mechanically fastened to the surface of the loop members of the bottom layer (1). After the tube (9) is placed on the bottom layer (1), the fastening element (20) is configured to fasten the tube (9) in a manner of surrounding the tube (9) by a mechanical fastening between the plurality of hook members (20) and the surface of the loop members of the bottom layer (1).