Intumescent Cable Pass-Through With Overlapping Fringes for Fire Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions for sealing openings in vehicles, such as foam plates and comb arrangements of intumescent material, lack flexibility and maintain fire-tightness, requiring replacement when cable configurations change, and deformations reduce fire-tightness.
Innovation Solution
A device with overlapping fringes on two combs of intumescent material, where the distance between free ends is greater than a quarter of the fringe length, ensuring complete coverage of openings without the need for replacement, and featuring different widths, thicknesses, and degrees of intumescence for enhanced fire-tightness.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If two combs with fringes are arranged opposite each other to allow cable passage, then flexibility is improved, but fire-tightness deteriorates due to fringe deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The invention transitions from a two-dimensional arrangement (fringes in the same plane) to a three-dimensional overlapping configuration where fringes of one comb extend beyond the plane of the other comb's fringes. This spatial dimensionality change allows fringes to overlap and interlock, maintaining fire-tightness while preserving cable passage flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The fringes are pre-positioned in an overlapping configuration before cable installation. This preliminary arrangement ensures that when cables pass through, the fringes can deform within predetermined limits while maintaining contact and fire-sealing capability, rather than relying on post-installation adjustments.
2Reliability
If foam panels are pre-drilled for cables, then fire-tightness is maintained, but adaptability deteriorates requiring replacement when cable configuration changes
Solution Approach 1:
The invention replaces static pre-drilled foam panels with dynamic fringed combs that can adapt their configuration. The fringes are designed to deform elastically when cables pass through, allowing the same device to accommodate varying cable numbers, sizes, and arrangements while maintaining fire-sealing performance without replacement.
Solution Approach 2:
The fringed combs function as flexible sealing elements that can bend and deform to accommodate different cable configurations. Unlike rigid pre-drilled foam panels, the thin fringed structure allows dynamic adaptation while maintaining the fire-tight barrier function through material flexibility and geometric design.
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 device allows flexible passage of cables while maintaining fire-tightness, as the intumescent material expands to enclose cables during a fire, ensuring complete sealing without the need for configuration changes, unlike previous solutions.
Implementation Method 1
two combs made of intumescent material fixed to the frame facing each other on either side of the opening
Implementation Method 2
the intumescent material expands to enclose cables during a fire
Data Source
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AI summary
This device for passing through thread-like elements, designed for installation in a vehicle, comprises a frame (20) defining an opening (22) for passing thread-like elements (19) in a substantially longitudinal direction, and two combs (24, 26) made of intumescent material fixed to the frame (20) opposite each other on either side of the opening (22). Each comb (24, 26) comprises a heel fixed to the frame (20) and several fringes. The fringes of the two combs (24, 26) overlap in an overlapping zone. The distance between the free ends of the fringes of the two overlapping combs (24, 26), in the absence of thread-like elements (19), is greater than one-quarter of the length of the fringes of the comb (24, 26) with the shorter fringes.