Wrappable textile sleeve having supplemental lace closure and method of construction thereof
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing self-wrapping textile sleeves used in the aircraft and aerospace industries are laborious and costly to secure due to the tedious and time-consuming process of applying and knotting lacing tapes around the circumference of the sleeves, which often leads to disassembly or loosening of the laces during installation.
Innovation Solution
A textile sleeve design featuring interlaced yarns with closed loops that allow a flexible lace to be slid through in a zig-zag pattern, ensuring the edges remain overlapping and securely closed, reducing the risk of lace disassembly and simplifying the installation process by allowing the lace to be initially threaded loosely and then tightened in a single action.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If lacing tapes are individually wrapped and knotted around the sleeve circumference, then the sleeve can be secured, but the installation process becomes tedious, laborious and costly
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple lacing functions are merged into a single continuous lace that travels through multiple loops along the sleeve length, eliminating the need for separate lacing operations at each location and reducing installation time while maintaining securing reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The lace is pre-threaded through all loops in a continuous path before installation, allowing the installer to simply pull the lace tight in a single action rather than performing multiple knotting operations during installation
2Reliability
If lacing tapes are individually knotted at spaced locations, then the sleeve can be secured along its length, but the laces may become disassembled or loosened during installation
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple lacing segments are combined into a single continuous lace that passes through multiple loops, ensuring the lace remains assembled and cannot become dislodged or loosened during installation, while still providing distributed securing along the sleeve length
Solution Approach 2:
The closed loops act as intermediaries that guide and retain the lace, preventing it from becoming disassembled while allowing it to be pulled tight to secure the sleeve edges
3Length of stationary object
If multiple lacing tapes are used at spaced locations, then the sleeve can be secured along its full length, but the complexity of the lacing system increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple lacing functions distributed along the sleeve length are merged into a single continuous lace system with multiple loops, reducing the number of separate components and simplifying the overall system while maintaining full-length coverage
Solution Approach 2:
The single lace is segmented into multiple loops distributed along the sleeve length, providing distributed securing coverage while maintaining system simplicity through a unified lace component rather than multiple separate lacing tapes
Data Source
AI summary
A wrappable textile sleeve with closure system and method of construction is provided. The sleeve has a wall of interlaced yarn with opposite edges extending in a lengthwise direction along a longitudinal axis between opposite ends. The opposite edges are wrappable into overlapping relation with one another to form a tubular cavity. The wall has a first set of closed loops positioned adjacent one of the opposite edges and a second set of closed loops positioned adjacent the other of the opposite edges. At least one flexible lace is disposed through the closed loops in a zig-zag pattern, thereby extending back-and-forth between the first set of loops and the second set of loops. The flexible lace is slidable through the plurality of loops to facilitate drawing and maintaining the opposite edges in overlapping relation with one another.