Supply Line With Internal Ridges For Kink Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing supply lines for transporting liquid and gaseous media, particularly in domestic drinking water installations, face issues with low bending stiffness and kinking, leading to potential failures when connecting household appliances, and they do not consistently meet the requirements for ensuring the quality and safety of drinking water.
Innovation Solution
A supply line design featuring at least one ridge projecting into the lumen with a free end at a distance from the feed line's end, ensuring a minimum flow cross-section and liquid-tight connections, along with radially arranged webs that maintain flexibility and stability, and optional integrated electrical or optical lines for control signals, all while being cost-effective and meeting material safety standards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the supply line is made flexible for easy installation, then ease of operation is improved, but bending stiffness is reduced causing kinking and buckling
Solution Approach 1:
The supply line uses a flexible polymer hose with controlled wall thickness to achieve the necessary flexibility for installation while preventing excessive bending that causes kinking. The flexible shell design allows the hose to bend within safe limits without compromising structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The supply line combines polymer material with stainless steel sheath to create a composite structure. The polymer provides flexibility and corrosion resistance, while the stainless steel reinforcement adds bending stiffness and prevents kinking, resolving the contradiction between flexibility and structural strength.
2Ease of manufacture
If the hose wall is made thin to reduce material cost, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but the minimum cross-section required for appliance connection is not maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The supply line features variable wall thickness with thicker sections at the ends where connections are made and thinner sections in the middle. This local quality variation ensures adequate connection strength and minimum cross-section at critical points while reducing material consumption and cost in non-critical areas.
Solution Approach 2:
The hose wall thickness is optimized as a parameter, with the thickness varying along the length of the hose. The end sections have increased thickness to maintain minimum cross-section for reliable appliance connections, while the intermediate sections have reduced thickness to minimize material cost.
3Ease of operation
If ribs are removed to create smooth surface for connection, then ease of connection is improved, but structural support is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful ribs that interfere with connection are selectively removed from the end sections of the hose, while the rest of the hose retains its ribbed structure for structural support. This extraction of only the problematic features maintains strength where needed while enabling smooth connection surfaces.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a supply line (1) for transporting liquid and/or gaseous media, with at least one lumen (10), and at least one layer (2, 4) enclosing the lumen, the inner surface of which defines a free cross-section for the transport of the media, characterized in that at least one web (3, 3', 3'') projecting into the lumen is arranged on the inner surface of the layer (2), wherein at least one free end (30, 30', 30'') of the web (3, 3', 3'') is spaced apart from the free end (5) of the supply line (1).