Flexible Pipe Protection Sheath With Holding Arms for Side Mounting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions for protecting pipes in car environments, such as brake fluid conduits, face challenges including high manufacturing costs, complexity in installation, and the need for multiple sizes of protective tubes due to rigid or heat-shrinkable materials that require larger diameters for connections, making lateral installation difficult and impractical.
Innovation Solution
A flexible protection sheath with a varying thickness flexible layer and stiffer holding arms allows for lateral installation and protection of pipes with existing connections, featuring a longitudinally opened cavity and modular design with a stiffening base for increased rigidity and adaptability, enabling easier mounting and protection of pipes with flanges or crimped connectors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If rigid channels or ducts are used to protect pipes, then protection is provided, but manufacturing cost increases and adaptability decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible protective sheath made of elastomeric material that can be wrapped around pipes of various shapes and sizes. This flexible shell provides protection against sand and rock projections while adapting to different pipe routings, eliminating the need for rigid custom-fitted channels for each routing configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective sheath utilizes material with variable properties - it is flexible during installation to accommodate different pipe configurations, then provides rigid protection when in place. The elastomeric material's ability to change from a flexible state during wrapping to a protective state when installed resolves the contradiction between flexibility for adaptability and rigidity for protection.
2Adaptability or versatility
If flexible or heat-shrinkable tubes are used, then adaptability improves, but tube diameter must be much larger than required, complicating installation
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible protective sheath is designed with a snug fit around the pipe without requiring excessive diameter. The sheath can be wrapped tightly around the pipe and secured, providing protection while maintaining a compact profile that does not interfere with adjacent components or require large clearance spaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The protective sheath can be supplied in segments or sections that can be individually wrapped around the pipe and joined together. This segmentation allows the sheath to adapt to different pipe lengths and configurations while maintaining a appropriate diameter, and simplifies installation by allowing the sheath to be applied in manageable sections rather than requiring one large continuous piece.
3Ease of operation
If tubes with larger diameter are used to allow insertion of connections, then connection installation is possible, but device complexity and operator qualification requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The protective sheath is designed to be installed after the pipe connections are already in place. The sheath is wrapped around the entire assembly including the connections, providing protection without requiring the connections to be inserted through the sheath. This preliminary installation of connections eliminates the need for large-diameter tubes and complex insertion procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of providing radial clearance for connection insertion, the solution moves to longitudinal installation - the sheath is applied along the length of the pipe from one end to the other, wrapping around existing connections. This dimensional change from radial to longitudinal installation simplifies the design, allowing standard-diameter sheaths to protect pipes with connections already in place.
4Ease of operation
If lateral insertion is used, then installation from side becomes possible, but all lids must be closed to hold pipe in place
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible protective sheath is wrapped around the pipe and connections in a continuous manner, eliminating the need for discrete lids or covers at each end. The flexible material can be wrapped and secured with simple fastening methods such as adhesive strips, ties, or overlapping edges, providing lateral installation capability without requiring multiple lids to be closed.
Data Source
AI summary
A flexible protection sheath for protecting a pipe, the sheath having: a flexible layer defining a longitudinally opened cavity arranged to receive the pipe, wherein the flexible layer is made in a first material having a first rigidity and has a varying thickness, and one or more holding arms, made in a second material having a second rigidity greater than the first rigidity, and arranged to hold the pipe in the cavity.