Silicone Encased Flexible Cable for Harsh Environments
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication and electrical systems, such as cables and optic fibers, often become tangled and damaged during installation due to excessive movement and contamination, making initial and maintenance installations difficult and prone to errors.
Innovation Solution
A method of encasing multiple individual flexible systems, including communication cables and optic fibers, in a flexible silicone encasement that can be shaped to fit specific applications, providing protection and reducing installation complexity by forming a single, continuous cable that can withstand harsh environments and maintain its shape through a curing process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple individual cables and flexible systems are installed separately, then each system can be independently managed and replaced, but the installation becomes complex, time-consuming, and prone to tangling and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple individual flexible systems (cables, optic fibers, tubes, electrical conductors) into a single integrated assembly enclosed within a common protective sheath. This merging approach allows all systems to be installed simultaneously as one unit, dramatically reducing installation time and complexity while eliminating the tangling problems associated with separate cable installations
Solution Approach 2:
The protective sheath serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides mechanical protection against abrasion and damage, acts as a containment structure to prevent tangling, offers environmental protection against contaminants, and serves as a unified installation medium. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction by consolidating multiple protective and management functions into a single component
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple individual cables are installed separately, then each cable can be independently routed, but the cables become tangled and damaged by excessive movement and abrasion
Solution Approach 1:
By enclosing all flexible systems within a single protective sheath, the patent maintains routing flexibility at the assembly level while protecting individual components from damage. The sheath prevents excessive movement and abrasion of individual cables, thereby improving reliability without sacrificing the ability to route the entire assembly as needed
Solution Approach 2:
The protective sheath acts as a flexible shell that encapsulates all individual flexible systems. This shell provides mechanical protection against abrasion and damage while maintaining the overall flexibility needed for routing. The sheath constrains individual cables within the assembly, preventing them from becoming tangled or damaged during installation and operation
3Ease of repair
If individual cables and systems are installed separately, then maintenance can be performed on specific components, but initial installation and subsequent maintenance become difficult to pull or extract through available space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a single integrated assembly that is easier to install and maintain than multiple separate cables. The unified structure can be pulled through available space as one unit, reducing installation difficulty. For maintenance, the modular design allows individual components to be accessed and replaced within the sheath, maintaining ease of repair while improving overall operation
4Adaptability or versatility
If multiple individual flexible systems are used, then system redundancy and flexibility are maintained, but the systems are contaminated from exposure to internal and outside contaminants
Solution Approach 1:
The protective sheath serves as a barrier that shields all individual flexible systems from internal and external contaminants. This encapsulation maintains system flexibility and adaptability while preventing contamination, thereby resolving the contradiction between maintaining system openness and protecting against harmful factors
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 solution reduces installation time, prevents damage during installation, and ensures reliable performance and long life by providing a flexible, durable, and contamination-resistant cable that can be customized for various applications, including aerospace and medical uses, while optimizing space usage and maintaining consistent electrical properties.
Implementation Method 1
maintain its shape through a curing process
Data Source
AI summary
The embodiments disclose a method for creating a silicone encased flexible cable using manufacturing machinery including automatically arranging plural individual conduits, into custom grouped arrangements including electrical wiring, pneumatic tubing and fluid tubing, inserting the custom grouped arrangements including connectors and flexible silicone junction devices into a shaped silicone encasement extrusion apparatus, depositing a mixture of silicone and additives to the custom grouped arrangements encasement using the extrusion apparatus, customizing the mixture of silicone and additives to create differing characteristics of the custom grouped arrangements, using the extrusion apparatus to create a singular encasement and to cure the singular encasement to a desired shape of the custom grouped arrangements and integrating one or more encased flexible junction box to the custom grouped arrangements, wherein the one or more flexible junction box contains at least one incoming and two outgoing conduit connections and one or more functional devices.