The present invention relates to a high-security cable, which is manufactured of a mixture of plastic yarns or of plastic yarns and metal wires.
High-security cables are used in many applications. Today, in particular, high-security cables are known, which are used as safety arrester cables, in particular for connecting a wheel of a racing car to its chassis. Such a safety arrester cable is known from WO 03/048602. The mentioned cable consists of a mixed yarn of threads with relatively rigid plastic filaments with an extension until breakage of 2 to 5%, and of relatively elastic plastic filaments with an extension to breakage of 12 to 25%. Here, the various plastic filaments are twisted into yarn strands, wherein the yarn strands are twisted in a balanced manner, whilst the cable manufactured of these yarn strands is twisted in an unbalanced manner. Such a cable not only has large tensile strength, but also an increased extension, by which means one may achieve an improved energy uptake. Given a full loading, the total energy is not transmitted directly to the anchoring, which often represents the critical location in the complete system, thanks to the accordingly increased energy uptake by the cable itself.
The known safety arrester cable, which used in “Formula 1” racing, may only have a relatively short extension path for reasons of safety, in order to prevent the broken-off wheel which now hangs on the arrester cable from being thrown onto the cockpit or the head of the driver. However, a longer extension path would not only be acceptable, but, as the case may be, even desirable with other racing vehicles, or in other applications. The applicant has carried out further research and development in this direction, and has particularly sought after solutions which practically permit the creation of a customer-specific adaptation to the specifications.
Considering the so-called work-to-break-energy curve of any material, then such a curve in principle has the shape of an acute triangle in a coordinate system, with which the force is plotted on the abscissa and the elasticity E on the ordinate. The tensile strength of the material is reflected in the height of the triangle, and the elasticity of the material is represented by the inclination of the hypotenuse of the right-angled triangle. If, then, different materials are processed into a cable, then usually the material-specific peaks are clearly recognisable in the complete enveloping curve. This leads to extremely unfavourable tear behaviour, depending on the load.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a high-security cable which, on account of its special manufacture, is capable of achieving a smoothing of the work-to-break-energy curve, by which means, as a whole, the energy which may be absorbed until breakage is to be increased. This object is achieved by a high-security cable with the features claimed herein. The invention relates also to the use of such a high-security cable for different applications, which until now have not been considered for cable of this type. In particular, the expanded application also results due to the fact that the cables may be manufactured of a combination of filaments of one or more plastics, as well as of wires of one or more metals or metal alloys.
The present invention solves the aforementioned problem by providing a high-security cable capable of achieving a smoothing of the work-to-break energy curve.
According to one aspect of the invention, a high-security cable is shown, the high-security cable comprising a first constituent part comprising yarns, wherein the yarns are manufactured using one of a plurality of non-metallic filaments and a combination of non-metallic filaments and metallic wires. The high-security cable further comprises a second constituent part comprising doubled yarns, wherein the doubled yarns are manufactured using the yarns of the first constituent part, and a third constituent part comprising a cord, wherein the cord is manufactured using at least three of the doubled yarns of the second constituent part, and wherein at least one of the doubled yarns is wound differently than the other doubled yarns.
According to another aspect of the invention, a high-security cable is disclosed, the high-security cable comprising a first constituent part comprising yarns, wherein the yarns are manufactured using one of a plurality of non-metallic filaments and a combination of non-metallic filaments and metallic wires, and wherein the metallic wires comprise at least one of nickel wires and austenitic Ni—Cr alloy wires. The high-security cable also comprises a second constituent part comprising doubled yarns, wherein the doubled yarns are manufactured using the yarns of the first constituent part, and wherein the doubled yarns are each wound in both an S-twisted direction and a Z-twisted direction. Furthermore, the high-security cable comprises a third constituent part comprising a cord, wherein the cord is manufactured using at least three of the doubled yarns of the second constituent part, and wherein at least one of the doubled yarns is wound differently than the other doubled yarns.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method of forming a high-security cable is shown, the method comprising forming a first constituent part, the first constituent part comprising one of a plurality of plastic yarns or a plurality of plastic yarns and metal wires, and forming a second constituent part, the second constituent part comprising a plurality of doubled yarns formed from the first constituent part, wherein each doubled yarn is wound in one of an S-twisted direction and a Z-twisted direction. The method further comprises forming a third constituent part, the third constituent part comprising a cord manufactured from the plurality of doubled yarns, wherein the cord is formed using both S-twisted doubled yarn and Z-twisted doubled yarn.
Further advantageous designs of the subject-matter of the invention are to be deduced from the dependent claims. Their design, purpose and effect are explained in the subsequent description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The drawings illustrate one preferred embodiment presently contemplated for carrying out the invention.
In the drawings:
High-security cables in most cases are manufactured of a single material, wherein one usually assumes the greatest force application which is capable of acting on the cable. Until now, one has used two or three different materials in a mixed manner only for reasons such as weather-durability, UV-durability and temperature-durability or other demands of a specific nature. Thereby, one has consistently limited oneself either to textile cables of natural fibres and plastic fibres, or purely metal cables. Cables which consist of both types of fibres and wires in a mixed manner are not obtainable on the market.
As is schematically represented in the force-extension diagram of
In a large series of trials, the applicant has now found that the curves change if instead of a simple yarn in a twisted form or untwisted form, one processes this further into doubled yarns or to cord. With this, it has been found that this form of further processing permits the flank of the gradient curve to become less steep, and, depending on the type of processing, one may maintain the maximal force transmission over a longer extension path. In other words, the previously pointed curves, as are known from
However, depending on the application, it may not be desirable to obtain a respective extension already before the maximum force is present. The object of an aspect of the present invention is to be seen in providing a cable which has an as small as possible extension path up to reaching the maximal applicable force, but to permit an as large as possible extension up to breakage when applying the maximal force. The maximal work which may be absorbed may be optimizedin this way.
Now, an example is shown by way of the force-extension diagram according to
Since the definitions of the terms used here are not uniform on an international level, the terms are hereinafter defined as are to be understood in the present invention. The smallest element is a monofilament or a single wire. Here, the fineness of the wire is not fixed. In the present invention, yarn is to be understood as an endless product consisting of several filaments, the filaments being any one of materials M1-M4. Here, the yarn may be non-twisted or twisted. A yarn according to the invention may analogously also consist of a multitude of fine metal wires. These metal wires, too, may be non-twisted or twisted.
With regard to the invention, a doubled yarn is to be understood as a product which consists of two yarns which are wound with one another. Each doubled yarn may be S-twisted or Z-twisted. Here, S-twisting is to be understood as a left-hand twisting, illustrated in
Alternatively, a doubled yarn may also be an untwisted, or “zero twist”, doubled yarn, as is shown by zero-twisted doubled yarn 30 in
With regard to the present invention, a cord is to be understood as a product with which at least three doubled yarns are twisted into a cord. It has been found that such a cord advantageously comprises three doubled yarns, wherein at least one doubled yarn is wound differently than the two other doubled yarns. Thus, one produces cords which, for example, are manufactured of two S-twisted doubled yarns and a Z-twisted doubled yarn, or of two Z-twisted doubled yarns and one S-twisted doubled yarn.
As can further be seen in
The individual yarns not only vary in the twist direction in which they are twisted, but they also differ in the number of twists per meter. This measure number may vary in the magnitude from about 30 twists per meter up to maximally 600 twists per meter. Whilst the S-twisting or the Z-twisting may be used independently of the type of material, the variation of the twists per meter may be dependent on different factors, such as, for example, the stiffness of the materials and of course on the effect to be achieved. Basically it is the case that the lower the twisting, the lower is the extension path until breakage, wherein, however, one should additionally take into account the fact that although the extension path until breakage increases with a very large number of twists per meter, the maximal force until breakage is however reduced. The latter is particularly the case with yarns which are completely manufactured of metal, or for yarns which contain a metal component.
As already mentioned, the cords according the present invention advantageously comprise three doubled yarns. Thereby, within a cord, the variation of the yarns applied therein, with regard to the properties of the materials, as well as with regard to the number of twists per meter, should not be too great.
With regard to the materials being considered here, one may essentially ignore the purely natural fibres. Apart from the known carbon fibres with tensile strength of 20 cN/dtex, the essentially more elastic m-aramide fibres which have a tensile strength of 4.7 cN/dtex are of course also considered here. The mentioned elastic m-aramide fibres may also be combined very well with the relatively rigid p-aramide fibres, which have a tensile strength of 19 cN/dtex. The very modern PBP-fibres, which even have a tensile strength of about 37 cN/dtex, have a particularly high tensile strength. Cables which are manufactured of such high tensile fibres are capable of accommodating tensile forces which far exceed the usually occurring forces. Despite this, often such high-security cables which are manufactured of such high tensile materials are extremely problematic on application. The smallest elastic extension up to breakage of only 1.5 to maximal 3.5% limits their application. The cables must be able to absorb a part of the energy via the extension, wherever very high forces may occur during a relatively short period of time, since otherwise the occurring brief, enormously high forces only lead to a destruction of the fastening points of the cables. Even then, when these fastening points are able to be dimensioned significantly greater than the cables in many cases, according to experience, problems occur at the fixation points.
In order to increase the deformation work which is undergone by the cable, the admixture of metal wires which may be integrated either in the yarn or the cord, in particular by way of a so-called core-spinning method, is particularly suitable, wherein the metal wire or wires lie in the centre, whilst the plastic yarns run around the metal wire or wires. With regard to the metal wires of interest here, of course various steel wires are to be considered, but in particular also wires of nickel or of an austenitic nickel-chrome alloy have proven their worth. Austenitic nickel-chrome alloys were processed in the form of wires with a diameter of below 0.5 mm into doubled yarns, and these processed further into a cable with a diameter of 12 to 13 mm. Such a cable with a length of 600 mm permits the transmission of a maximal force of 57.8 kN. The work-to-break here was also 10,000 Nm.
What is essential according to the present invention, is the fact that the cable must consist of three different constituent parts, specifically on the one hand of yarns, on the other hand of doubled yarns, and thirdly of cords, wherein simultaneously, of each material constituent part, this material should be present as yarn as well as doubled yarn and as cord. Only thus is it ensured that the three different extension regions of the same material may also be utilised.
It is only due to the combination of all three processing steps that the maximal extendibility of the material is also fully utilised. Although the processing of metal wires in the high-security cable according to the invention is not absolutely necessary, such wires have been found to be extremely advantageous for covering certain extension ranges. In the case that the high-security cable contains shares of p-aramide fibres, m-aramide fibres, or PBO-fibres, then the share of these fibres which have a tensile strength of more than 10 cN/dtex energy generally consist mostly of the constituent parts of yarn and cord, but to a lesser extent as pure cord.
The application of such high-security cables according to the invention is hardly suitable for cables which merely need to transmit a relatively constant high tensile force. However, the high-security cables according to the invention may be applied wherever extreme high peak loads of a high-security cable occur. In particular, tests have shown that such safety arrester cables are suitable for application in sports car racing, for connecting a wheel to the chassis of the racing car. It has been found that with such an application, it makes sense to design the cable according to the invention such that several windings are shaped into parallel loops, so that at least one open loop is formed at the open end.
A further field of application of these cables according to the invention lies in the fact that these may be used in order to make safety arrester cables therefrom, which may be attached along ski slopes, and in particular along the race circuits in alpine sports.
High-security cables may only fulfil the safety standards demanded of them when these are applied under clear conditions. Accordingly, they are hardly suitable for long-term falling-stone arrester structures or avalanche protective structures. The prevailing environmental influences over a longer period would manifest themselves with regard to the performance of the high-security cable. However, the high-security cables may be advantageously be processed into nettings which may serve as a temporary avalanche protector netting. Accordingly, such cables may also be processed into nettings as temporary falling-stone arrester netting.
The present invention has been described in terms of the preferred embodiment, and it is recognized that equivalents, alternatives, and modifications, aside from those expressly stated, are possible and within the scope of the appending claims.
Thus, according to one aspect of the invention, a high-security cable is shown, the high-security cable comprising a first constituent part comprising yarns, wherein the yarns are manufactured using one of a plurality of non-metallic filaments and a combination of non-metallic filaments and metallic wires. The high-security cable further comprises a second constituent part comprising doubled yarns, wherein the doubled yarns are manufactured using the yarns of the first constituent part, and a third constituent part comprising a cord, wherein the cord is manufactured using at least three of the doubled yarns of the second constituent part, and wherein at least one of the doubled yarns is wound differently than the other doubled yarns.
According to another aspect of the invention, a high-security cable is disclosed, the high-security cable comprising a first constituent part comprising yarns, wherein the yarns are manufactured using one of a plurality of non-metallic filaments and a combination of non-metallic filaments and metallic wires, and wherein the metallic wires comprise at least one of nickel wires and austenitic Ni—Cr alloy wires. The high-security cable also comprises a second constituent part comprising doubled yarns, wherein the doubled yarns are manufactured using the yarns of the first constituent part, and wherein the doubled yarns are each wound in both an S-twisted direction and a Z-twisted direction. Furthermore, the high-security cable comprises a third constituent part comprising a cord, wherein the cord is manufactured using at least three of the doubled yarns of the second constituent part, and wherein at least one of the doubled yarns is wound differently than the other doubled yarns.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method of forming a high-security cable is shown, the method comprising forming a first constituent part, the first constituent part comprising one of a plurality of plastic yarns or a plurality of plastic yarns and metal wires, and forming a second constituent part, the second constituent part comprising a plurality of doubled yarns formed from the first constituent part, wherein each doubled yarn is wound in one of an S-twisted direction and a Z-twisted direction. The method further comprises forming a third constituent part, the third constituent part comprising a cord manufactured from the plurality of doubled yarns, wherein the cord is formed using both S-twisted doubled yarn and Z-twisted doubled yarn.
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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1218/05 | Jul 2005 | CH | national |
The present application is a continuation-in-part of, and claims priority to, U.S. application Ser. No. 11/996,328, filed Apr. 28, 2008, which was a National Stage filing of, and claimed priority to, PCT/CH2006/000292, having an international filing date of Jun. 1, 2006.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 11996328 | Apr 2008 | US |
Child | 12624926 | US |