Rigid Closing Flap Structure for Protective Garment Fasteners
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Protective garments often fail to ensure that fasteners remain closed during wear, particularly in hazardous environments, and lack visual indicators for unfastening.
Innovation Solution
A closing flap with increased bending rigidity, attached to the fastener assembly, ensures the fastener remains closed and can be visually distinguished from the garment fabric, providing a clear indication if the fastener becomes undone.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a closing flap is attached to cover the fastener assembly, then the fastener remains closed and contaminants are prevented from entering, but the flap may become undone or fail to provide visual indication of unfastening
Solution Approach 1:
The closing flap fabric is engineered with different physical parameters than the garment fabric, specifically higher bending rigidity (at least 7.5% greater) to maintain flap position and prevent unfastening. This parameter change ensures the flap remains reliably closed without requiring complex mechanical fastening mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The closing flap is provided with a color different from the garment fabric to create visual contrast. This color change enables workers to easily detect if the flap has become unfastened, providing visual indication of potential contamination risk without adding mechanical complexity.
2Ease of manufacture
If the closing flap has the same fabric properties as the garment fabric, then manufacturing is simple, but the flap lacks sufficient rigidity to remain closed and provide visual distinction
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than making the entire garment from different fabrics, only the closing flap uses fabric with modified properties (higher bending rigidity and different color). This local quality approach maintains ease of manufacture for the majority of the garment while providing enhanced structural performance and visual indication where needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The closing flap uses a composite or differently constituted fabric material with superior bending rigidity compared to the standard garment fabric. This material differentiation provides the necessary structural strength to keep the flap closed while allowing the rest of the garment to maintain manufacturing simplicity.
3Reliability
If visual indicators are added to show unfastening, then worker safety is improved, but the garment design becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The simplest and most effective visual indication method is used: the closing flap is made in a different color than the garment fabric. This color contrast provides immediate visual feedback to workers about fastener status without requiring electronic sensors, lights, or complex indication mechanisms.
Data Source
AI summary
A garment comprising protective apparel fabric, a fastener assembly for joining a first and a second area of the protective apparel fabric, and a closing flap for covering the fastener assembly, the closing flap attached to the outer garment surface of first area of protective apparel fabric, the closing flap having a size and shape such that the covering area of the closing flap fully covers the fastener assembly when the fastener assembly is closed, the closing flap having an average bending rigidity that is at least 7.5 percent greater than the average bending rigidity of the protective apparel fabric; the color and/or visual marking or pattern of the closing flap can be different from or distinct from other parts of the garment.