1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to protective sleeves for providing protection to elongate members contained therein, and more particularly to wrappable protective sleeves and to their method of construction.
2. Related Art
Wrappable protective sleeves for providing protection to elongate members contained therein are known. Typically, the wrappable protective sleeves are formed having a wrappable wall constructed with a uniform material density over the entire wall, wherein opposite lengthwise extending edges of the wall are wrappable into overlapping relation with one another. The wall can be constructed as a heat-set wall, thereby biasing the wall into its wrapped configuration, or the wall can be manually wrapped and fixed via a separate fastener, e.g. tie wrap or tape. Although sleeves formed from the aforementioned walls can prove useful, they can suffer drawbacks due to the physical properties of the wall. For example, it is known that wrappable sleeve walls can collapse under a radial load and/or kink while being bent around circuitous paths. Attempts to combat collapsing and kinking include providing the wall with an increased thickness, however, this adds weight to the resulting sleeve, which can be as or more problematic than the original problem of collapsing and/or kinking. Further attempts to combat collapsing and kinking include fastening preformed rigid hoops or other preformed rigid structural materials to an inner surface of the wall, however, this typically comes at a great expense, both from having to use separate material from the wall to form the preformed rigid structures and further, in having to incorporate additional manufacturing processes to fasten the preformed rigid structure(s) to the sleeve wall.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a wrappable protective sleeve for providing protection to an elongate member contained therein is provided. The sleeve includes a textile wall having opposite edges extending lengthwise along a longitudinal axis between opposite ends. The edges are wrappable to overlap one another to form an enclosed cavity. At least one reinforcement rib extends along at least a portion of the wall. The at least one reinforcement rib is formed of material fused and bonded on the wall.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the wall is constructed of a first type of material and the at least one reinforcement rib is formed of a second type of material, wherein the first and second types of material can be different from one another, thereby providing specific material physical properties for the wall and the reinforcement rib, as needed for the intended application.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the wall is constructed of a first type of material and the at least one reinforcement rib is formed of a second type of material, wherein the first and second types of material can be the same.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the at least one reinforcement rib can be formed from fused material of the wall, thereby being economical in manufacture and formed integrally within and on the wall.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the at least one reinforcement rib can be formed as a plurality of discrete reinforcement ribs, thereby being able to provide regions of discrete, localized material physical properties.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the plurality of discrete reinforcement ribs can extend substantially transversely to the longitudinal axis, thereby providing regions of enhanced hoops strength spaced from one another by intermediate regions having enhanced longitudinal flexibility.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the at least one reinforcement rib can be heat-set to bias opposite edges into their overlapping relation with one another.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the at least one reinforcement rib can be formed as a single, continuous reinforcement rib.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the single, continuous reinforcement rib can extend over a serpentine path between the opposite ends of the sleeve, thereby being able to provide different flexural properties over different regions along the length of the sleeve, as desired.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the single, continuous reinforcement rib can have a plurality of widthwise extending portions extending substantially transversely to the longitudinal axis, wherein the widthwise extending portions are interconnected to one another by lengthwise extending portions extending substantially parallel to said longitudinal axis, thereby allowing the reinforcement rib to be formed quickly as a continuous rib, and providing enhanced hoop strength via the widthwise extending portions and flexural rigidity and strength via the lengthwise extending portions, wherein each of the portions of the reinforcement rib can be heat-set.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the at least one reinforcement rib is asymmetrical, thereby allowing different regions of the sleeve wall to exhibit different physical properties, as desired for the specific region.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the textile wall can be formed as a nonwoven material.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the textile wall can be one of a woven, knit or braided material.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the at least one reinforcement rib can be fused from heat-settable material to facilitate heat-setting the wall into a self-curled configuration to bring the opposite side into overlapping relation with one another.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the at least one reinforcement rib can form a plurality of axially spaced first regions having a first density and a plurality of axially spaced second regions having a second density greater than the first density, wherein the first regions and the second regions alternate with one another along the longitudinal axis to provide separate zones of increased hope strength and increased flexibility.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method of constructing a wrappable protective sleeve for protecting an elongate member contained therein is provided. The method includes forming a textile wall having opposite edges extending lengthwise along a longitudinal axis between opposite ends with the opposite edges being wrappable to overlap one another to form an enclosed cavity. The method further includes melting and solidifying at least one reinforcement rib on the wall to form regions of increased hoop strength and rigidity as compared to regions of the wall devoid of the reinforcement rib.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method further includes forming the wall from a first type of material and fusing the at least one reinforcement rib from a second type of material, wherein the first and second types of material can be different from one another.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include forming the wall from a first type of material and fusing the at least one reinforcement rib from a second type of material, wherein the first and second types of material can be the same.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include fusing the at one reinforcement rib in material of the wall.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include fusing the at least one reinforcement rib as a plurality of discrete reinforcement ribs.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include fusing a plurality of discrete reinforcement ribs extending substantially transversely to the longitudinal axis.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include fusing the at least one reinforcement rib as a single reinforcement rib.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include fusing the reinforcement rib extending over a serpentine path between the opposite ends.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include fusing a single, continuous reinforcement rib having a plurality of widthwise extending portions extending substantially transversely to the longitudinal axis and interconnecting the widthwise extending portions to one another by portions of the reinforcement rib extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include fusing the at least one reinforcement rib being asymmetrical.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include forming the wall as a nonwoven material.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include forming the wall as one of a woven, knit or braided material.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include fusing the at least one reinforcement rib from heat-settable material.
These and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily appreciated when considered in connection with the following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments and best mode, appended claims and accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring in more detail to the drawings,
The sleeve 10 includes a textile wall 14 made from a first material having opposite edges 16, 18 extending lengthwise along a longitudinal axis 20 between opposite ends 22, 24. The edges 16, 18 are wrappable about the longitudinal axis 20 to bring the edges 16, 18 into overlapped relation with one another to form a circumferentially enclosed cavity 25. At least one reinforcement rib 26 (
The wall 14 can be constructed as a nonwoven, woven, knit, or braided wall. As shown in
The reinforcement rib 26 can be fused from a second material separate from the first material of the wall 14, or it can be fused from a second material that is the same as the first material of the wall 14, such as by being fused on and/or in the wall 14 by fusing the first material of the wall 14 itself. Further, the reinforcement rib 26 can be formed having any desired geometric configuration/pattern, including being a symmetrical or asymmetrical pattern along the length of the wall 14. As such, depending on the application and the physical properties desired for the sleeve 14, with attention being placed on both rigidity in the form of hoop strength and lengthwise flexibility, the reinforcement rib 26 can be highly and readily customized in size, shape and form to provide the desired hoop strength and flexibility along the length of the wall 14. Accordingly, it should be recognized that discrete portions or segments of the wall 14 can be formed having different physical properties from one another, such as differing from one another in hoop strength and flexibility, by forming an increased presence of the reinforcement rib 26 within certain regions to enhance the hoop strength, while forming other regions having a decreased or no presence of the reinforcement rib 26 to enhance the flexibility. Accordingly, the geometric configuration of the reinforcement rib 26 can be altered from one region to another to provide the strength and flexibility desired.
As shown in
In accordance with a method of constructing the sleeve 10, the reinforcement ribs 26 can be fused on and/or in the wall 14, shown as being fused on the inner surface 27 of the wall 14. The material selected to be fused on the wall 14 is applied via a fusing process, which includes any suitable melting process, via any desired additive manufacturing process capable of fusing/melting one material onto another or fusing/melting a portion of the wall 14 itself, should the wall 14 be formed from a heat-fusible material. By way of example, fusing/melting processes suitable for fusing/melting reinforcement ribs 26 in accordance with the invention include fused deposition modeling (FDM), an extrusion dispensing tip, screen printing, or the like. Further, the heat-fusible material used to form the reinforcement ribs 26 can be UV curable, if desired. As such, the wall 14, whether constructed as a nonwoven material or from interlaced from yarn, is constructed first, and then the reinforcement ribs 26 are fused onto material of the wall 14 or from material of the wall 14 thereafter in the desired pattern.
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Many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described, and that the scope of the invention is defined by any ultimately allowed claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/858,527, filed Jul. 25, 2013, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61858527 | Jul 2013 | US |