Low Profile Textile Wire Bundler Sleeve with Living Hinge
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional sleeves for bundling wires are either too bulky for routing under carpeting or flush along surfaces, and rigid flat sleeves are not flexible enough for bends and turns.
Innovation Solution
A low-profile textile sleeve with interlaced monofilament warp and fill yarns, heat-set to a flat configuration, featuring living hinge regions for flexibility and structural integrity, allowing for easy routing around corners and contoured surfaces while maintaining a flat profile.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If a round bundle of wires is protected by a tubular sleeve, then the wires are protected, but the package size becomes too bulky for routing under carpeting or flush along surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve is divided into a base section and folding sections that can be collapsed to reduce the profile of the wire bundle, allowing it to be routed in constrained spaces while maintaining protection
Solution Approach 2:
The sleeve transitions from a three-dimensional cylindrical shape to a two-dimensional flat configuration through folding sections, enabling the wire bundle to be routed flush along surfaces or under carpeting
2Volume of moving object
If a sleeve with a flatter profile is used to enable flat bundling of wires, then the package size is reduced, but the sleeve becomes rigid and not easily routed when bends and turns are necessary
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve is segmented into a rigid base section and flexible folding sections, allowing the flat profile to be maintained in the base section while the folding sections provide the necessary flexibility for routing around corners
Solution Approach 2:
The folding sections are designed to be dynamic, capable of bending and flexing when routing is required, while the base section maintains its rigid flat structure for stable wire bundling
3Shape
If rigid molded plastic sleeves are used for flat bundling, then the wires are maintained in a flat configuration, but alternative routing options must be considered when bends and turns are necessary
Solution Approach 1:
The sleeve is divided into rigid and flexible sections, allowing the flat configuration to be maintained where needed while providing flexible routing capability where turns and bends are required
Solution Approach 2:
The sleeve combines both rigid flat-bundling functionality and flexible routing capability in a single product, eliminating the need to choose between different sleeve types for different routing scenarios
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 sleeve provides a flexible, low-profile solution for bundling wires, enabling easy routing in constrained spaces while maintaining structural integrity and allowing moisture passage, suitable for various environmental conditions.
Implementation Method 1
longitudinally and laterally interlaced monofilament warp and fill yarns that are heat-set to a generally flat fold configuration
Implementation Method 2
The interlaced warp and fill yarns provide a generally open structure to the sleeve to permit the passage of moisture
Data Source
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AI summary
A low profile fold protective textile sleeve for bundling elongate members has longitudinally and laterally interlaced monofilament warp and fill yarns. Flat profile monofilaments are employed in the warp direction and round monofilaments in the fill direction. The flat monofilaments are considerably wider than they are thick, and provide the sleeve with flexibility and bending out of the plane of the sleeve. The round monofilaments may be sized so that their diameter is about the same as the thickness of the flat monofilaments, and they can be bundled together so that the effective width of each bundle approximates the width of the flat monofilament yarns with which they are intertwined. The round monofilaments are heat-set along at least a portion of their length to provide biased living hinge regions of the sleeve, while also lending strength and stiffness to the sleeve along the fill direction.