Integrated Protective Cuff with Anti-Wicking Guard and Resilient Dam
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current personal protective equipment (PPE) interfaces, such as between a protective pant/liner combination and a protective boot, face challenges in preventing the ingress of fluid and airborne contaminants, and existing solutions are often costly, complex, and require multiple variations for effective protection.
Innovation Solution
A protective cuff is integrated into the pant leg or sleeve, featuring a fluid/particulate/water dam with a resilient opening and an anti-wicking guard formed by the same material, positioned above the hem to effectively engage with the boot or glove, providing enhanced protection and reducing contamination risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate anti-wicking guards and water dams are used at the pant-leg-to-boot interface, then protection against fluid and airborne contaminant ingress is improved, but device complexity and the number of component variations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines separate anti-wicking guards and water dams into a single integrated protective cuff component. This unified structure performs multiple functions (blocking wicking, preventing water ingress, and stopping airborne contaminants) that were previously achieved through separate components, thereby reducing complexity while maintaining protective effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated protective cuff is designed to perform multiple protective functions simultaneously: it acts as an anti-wicking guard, a water dam, and a barrier against airborne contaminants. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for multiple separate components and their various variations, simplifying the system while improving reliability.
2Reliability
If multiple separate components are used at protective equipment interfaces, then protection against fluid and airborne contaminants is improved, but ease of manufacture and selection are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
By merging anti-wicking guards, water dams, and contaminant barriers into a single integrated protective cuff, the patent simplifies the manufacturing process. Instead of producing and assembling multiple separate components with different variations, manufacturers can produce a single unified component, reducing production complexity and improving ease of manufacture.
Solution Approach 2:
The multi-functional protective cuff reduces the variety of components that need to be manufactured and inventoried. A single component design that performs multiple functions eliminates the need to manage several different component types and their variations, thereby simplifying both manufacturing and selection processes.
3Reliability
If conventional separate components are used at interfaces, then protection is provided, but cost and production complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The integration of multiple protective functions into a single cuff component reduces the total number of parts that need to be manufactured, inventoried, and assembled. This consolidation directly reduces production complexity and associated costs while maintaining the necessary protective functions at equipment interfaces.
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 integrated cuff design effectively reduces fluid and airborne contaminant ingress, simplifies selection and production, and enhances protection without adding weight or complexity, offering improved protection against environmental hazards like chemicals and bio-pathogens.
Implementation Method 1
The dam includes a resilient opening to surround and snuggly engage another wearable piece of protective equipment or a wearer's limb received in the resilient opening
Data Source
AI summary
A protective cuff is fixed in a pant leg or sleeve of a protective garment. The protective cuff includes a fluid/particulate/water dam fixed around an interior circumference of a pant leg or sleeve of a protective garment at an attachment location that is spaced upwardly from a lowermost hem of the pant leg or sleeve. The dam includes a resilient opening to surround and snuggly engage another wearable piece of protective equipment or a wearer's limb received in the opening. A length of loose material extends from the attachment location to the resilient opening to surround the wearable piece of protective equipment or the wearer's limb received in the opening. An anti-wicking guard extends from the lowermost hem to the attachment location and surrounding the interior of the pant leg or sleeve.