Self-Wrapping Textile Sleeve With Impervious Coating for Wire Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multilayer protective sleeves for wires and wire harnesses are bulky, heavy, and inflexible, making them unsuitable for applications requiring routing through tight spaces and weight restrictions, such as aircraft and aerospace, while also being costly.
Innovation Solution
A self-wrapping textile sleeve with an elongate wall constructed from interlaced yarns that are heat-formed to curl into a tubular configuration, featuring a cured outer layer that fills interstices to create an impervious barrier against fluids and abrasion, reducing weight and cost while maintaining protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multilayer protective sleeves are used to provide protection against abrasion, fluid, and thermal effects, then protection reliability is improved, but weight and bulk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies composite materials by combining a textile substrate with a cured coating layer to create a protective sleeve that provides abrasion, fluid, and thermal protection. The textile substrate offers structural integrity and flexibility, while the cured coating provides the protective barrier, achieving reliable protection without the bulk of traditional multilayer sleeves.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses parameter changes by applying heat and pressure during the curing process to transform the coating from liquid to solid state, creating a durable protective layer. This thermal processing allows the coating to penetrate and bond with the textile substrate, providing comprehensive protection while maintaining a thin profile.
2Reliability
If multilayer protective sleeves are used to provide comprehensive protection, then protection reliability is improved, but flexibility and ease of routing are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs flexible shells and thin films by using a textile substrate with a thin cured coating layer. This construction provides comprehensive protection against abrasion, fluid, and thermal effects while maintaining the flexibility needed for routing through tight and winding areas, eliminating the bulkiness of traditional multilayer sleeves.
Solution Approach 2:
The composite structure of textile substrate combined with cured coating creates a material that is both protective and flexible. The textile provides structural flexibility and conformability, while the cured coating delivers environmental protection, achieving a balance between reliability and ease of routing.
3Reliability
If multilayer protective sleeves are used to ensure adequate protection, then protection reliability is improved, but manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple functions into a single integrated structure by combining the protective coating and the textile substrate into one composite sleeve. This eliminates the need for separate multilayer constructions, reducing manufacturing complexity and cost while maintaining comprehensive protection against abrasion, fluid, and thermal effects.
Solution Approach 2:
The composite material approach allows for cost-effective manufacturing by using a single substrate material that can be coated and cured in one process. This integrated construction provides the same level of protection as multilayer sleeves but with simpler manufacturing steps and lower material costs.
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 self-wrapping sleeve provides enhanced protection against abrasion, heat, and fluids with reduced weight and manufacturing costs, allowing for easier routing through tight spaces and meeting weight restrictions.
Implementation Method 1
At least one of the yarns is heat formed at one temperature to form the wall as a self-wrapping wall curling about a longitudinal axis of the sleeve
Implementation Method 2
The wall also has an outer surface with a cured layer thereon. The cured layer is cured at the one temperature at which the yarns are heat formed into their self-wrapping configuration
Data Source
AI summary
A self-wrapping, textile sleeve for routing and protecting elongate members from exposure to abrasion, thermal and other environmental conditions and method on construction thereof. The sleeve has an elongate wall constructed from interlaced yarns having interstices between adjacent yarns. At least one of the yarns is heat formed at one temperature to form the wall as a self-wrapping wall curling about a longitudinal axis of the sleeve. The wall has an inner surface providing a generally tubular cavity in which the elongate members are received. The wall also has an outer surface with a cured layer thereon. The cured layer is cured at the one temperature at which the yarns are heat formed into their self-wrapping configuration, wherein the cured layer fills the interstices between adjunct yarns to form an impervious layer on the wall.