Self-Supporting Cable Unit With Arcuate Support Housings
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Cables used in clean room environments for displaying OLEDs, LCDs, and semiconductors tend to twist, buckle, or sag when moved, leading to issues like wrinkling, tearing, and dust generation due to friction, especially when bent or layered, and fail to maintain a stable arrangement during longitudinal and transverse movements.
Innovation Solution
A self-supporting cable unit with tubular cable and support housings having arcuate cross-sections, allowing for flexible bending without external support, reducing curvature resistance and preventing wrinkling, and featuring a low-friction coating to minimize dust and particulate generation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the cable is moved repeatedly along various moving paths, then the cable can connect stationary and moving entities, but the cable becomes twisted or buckles or sags
Solution Approach 1:
The cable is nested within a cable track chain structure, where multiple articulated sections are connected in sequence. This allows the cable to be contained and guided through a structured path, preventing twisting and buckling while maintaining movement flexibility between stationary and moving entities.
Solution Approach 2:
The cable track chain employs articulated joints with specific curvature radii that match the bending requirements of the cable. This curved geometry allows the cable to bend smoothly without sharp folds, maintaining shape stability while enabling repeated movement along designed paths.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the articulated chain is bent, then the cable can follow the movement path, but folding wrinkles occur on the pod along a radius of curvature
Solution Approach 1:
The pod is designed with a curved cross-section matching the radius of curvature of the articulated chain joints. This geometric compatibility ensures that when the chain bends, the pod follows the curvature smoothly without creating folding wrinkles on its surface.
3Strength
If the pods are disposed to overlap each other in multiple layers, then the cable unit can support itself, but friction increases between pods causing dust generation and tearing
Solution Approach 1:
The invention converts the harmful friction between overlapping pods into a beneficial low-friction interface by applying PTFE (Teflon) coating to the pod surfaces. This coating transforms the high-friction contact into a smooth, self-lubricating interface that reduces wear and dust generation while maintaining the self-supporting structure.
4Adaptability or versatility
If the cable moves in longitudinal and transverse directions simultaneously, then the cable unit provides versatile movement, but the cable slips off and cannot maintain the stacked arrangement
Solution Approach 1:
The cable track chain employs dynamic articulated joints that can adapt their configuration in real-time. The interconnected articulated sections move协调ly in response to combined longitudinal and transverse movements, maintaining the cable's stacked arrangement through dynamic adjustment rather than rigid fixed positioning.
Data Source
AI summary
A cable unit is provided comprising: a jacket comprising at least one cable housing and at least one support housing; the or each cable housing having a tubular structure, extending in a longitudinal direction, each support housing in the plurality of support housings having a tubular structure, extending in the longitudinal direction, wherein the at least one support housing being disposed on one side of the at least one cable housing; and at least one support element retained within each support housing of the plurality of support housings, wherein the at least one support element retained within each support housing of the plurality of support housings comprises at least one portion that has an arcuate cross section in the width direction.