U.S. patent application number 12/354291 was filed with the patent office on 2009-11-12 for stretch hose.
This patent application is currently assigned to SCHAUENBURG HOSE TECHNOLOGY GMBH. Invention is credited to Ralf Jourdan.
Application Number | 20090277525 12/354291 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 41253604 |
Filed Date | 2009-11-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20090277525 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Jourdan; Ralf |
November 12, 2009 |
Stretch Hose
Abstract
An elastically stretchable stretch hose (2) with a support
spiral (4) acting as a tension spring and with a hose wall (6)
connected with the support spiral (4) and consisting of a synthetic
material, shall have a relatively low weight. Furthermore, it is
desirable for various applications that the stretching force
required for the extension is kept relatively low. For this
purpose, the support spiral (4) is made, according to the
invention, of a synthetic material.
Inventors: |
Jourdan; Ralf;
(Moerfelden-Walldorf, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
DeMont & Breyer, LLC
100 Commons Way, Ste. 250
Holmdel
NJ
07733
US
|
Assignee: |
SCHAUENBURG HOSE TECHNOLOGY
GMBH
Muelheim an der Ruhr
DE
|
Family ID: |
41253604 |
Appl. No.: |
12/354291 |
Filed: |
January 15, 2009 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
138/122 ;
138/129 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61M 16/08 20130101;
B32B 37/15 20130101; F16L 11/24 20130101; B29D 23/18 20130101; B29C
48/154 20190201; B32B 37/142 20130101; F16L 11/112 20130101; B29L
2023/005 20130101; B29C 53/582 20130101; B29C 53/825 20130101; B29C
53/581 20130101; A47L 9/248 20130101; B29C 48/131 20190201; B29L
2023/18 20130101; F16L 11/115 20130101; B32B 2597/00 20130101; B32B
2307/546 20130101; B29C 48/12 20190201 |
Class at
Publication: |
138/122 ;
138/129 |
International
Class: |
F16L 11/118 20060101
F16L011/118 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
May 7, 2008 |
DE |
10 2008 022 663.7 |
Claims
1. Elastically stretchable stretch hose (2) comprising: a support
spiral (4) acting as a tension spring; and a hose wall (6)
connected with the support spiral (4) and consisting of a material
that is synthetic, the support spiral (4) consisting of a synthetic
material.
2. Stretch hose (2) according to claim 1, the support spiral (4)
consisting of a thermoplastically deformable synthetic
material.
3. Stretch hose (2) according to claim 1, the support spiral (4)
consisting of PVC, TPU, PP, TPE, or ABS.
4. Stretch hose (2) according to claim 1, the support spiral (4)
consisting of a synthetic material having a higher modulus of
elasticity than the material of which the hose wall (6)
consists.
5. Stretch hose (2) according to claim 1, the stretch ratio being
at least 1.5:1.
6. Stretch hose (2) according to claim 1, wherein the hose wall (6)
also has a significant spring effect.
7. Stretch hose (2) according to claim 1, wherein the spring
constant effective when the stretch hose (2) is stretched has a
value of 5 N/m to 25 N/m.
8. Stretch hose (2) according to claim 2, wherein the
thermoplastically deformable synthetic material is a thermoplastic
elastomer.
Description
[0001] The invention relates to an elastically stretchable stretch
hose with a support spiral acting as a tension spring and with a
hose wall connected with the support spiral and consisting of a
synthetic material.
[0002] Elastically stretchable stretch hoses with a hose wall made
of synthetic material are known in many different embodiment
variants and for a multitude of applications. All these variants
are characterized by getting their stretchability through an
integrated support spiral or helix made of steel wire, acting as a
tension spring and providing at the same time the necessary radial
strength. The known stretch hoses just differ by the application of
different shapes and arrangements (profiles) of the plastic band
forming the hose wall.
[0003] The disadvantages of this type of hose structure are, on the
one hand, the relatively high weight of the hose due to the wire
spiral and the relatively high costs, because the cost price of the
steel wire determines the price of the product. On the other hand,
stretch hoses with steel-wire spiral usually involve relatively
high stretching forces, as, for stretching the hose, the
material-dependent relatively high spring resistance of the
steel-wire spiral has to be overcome.
[0004] It is the aim of the present invention to provide a stretch
hose which, in comparison with the currently known stretch hoses,
has a reduced weight with, at the same time, minimized production
costs. Furthermore, it is desirable that the stretching force
required for the extension is reduced.
[0005] This task is solved according to the invention by the fact
that the support spiral is made of a synthetic material.
[0006] The clearly lower density of synthetic materials as compared
with steel results in a significant reduction of the weight of the
stretch hose. The costs of the product are also reduced because the
share of the plastic spiral in the costs is clearly lower, due to
the reduced weight percentage in the total product and the usually
lower cost prices of synthetic materials in comparison with steel
wire. Furthermore, with this hose structure, stretch hoses with a
relatively low stretching force can be manufactured because the
spring resistance to be overcome is in this construction rather
low.
[0007] It is particularly advantageous when in rest condition, the
hose is without prestress, i.e. stressfree, and the spring tension
is only built up when the hose is stretched. In order that the hose
takes a blocked form in rest condition, the hose wall is
manufactured with the corresponding required profiling. The band
between two adjacent spiral turns, forming the hose wall, is,
therefore, advantageously shaped in the form of a loop or fold, so
that adjacent spiral turns lie one beside the other in rest
condition.
[0008] Furthermore, it is advantageous to design the stretch hose
in such a way that the spring tension building up during stretching
and trying to restore the compact rest configuration of the hose,
is generated both by the support spiral and by the band profile
forming the hose wall. That means that the share of the
"restoration-seeking" spring tension attributable to the material
of the hose wall in proportion to the share attributable to the
support spiral should advantageously be quite significant and
should preferably amount to at least 25%, particularly preferably,
to at least 50% of the total spring tension.
[0009] Through the novel design, a higher flexibility of the
stretch hose can possibly be achieved also concerning the stress
acting at right angles to the longitudinal direction.
[0010] For manufacturing the hose wall, all synthetic materials
known from stretch hoses with steel-wire spiral can be used. These
are mainly plasticized PVC and TPU, but also all other synthetic
materials which are deformable under the conditions of application
of the stretch hose, preferably elastic and preferably
thermoplastically processable synthetic materials, such as, e.g.
TPE or EPDM/PP, can be used.
[0011] For the support spiral, advantageously a thermoplastically
processable synthetic material is used, whose modulus of elasticity
should expediently be higher than the modulus of elasticity of the
material of the hose wall, in order to achieve a sufficient radial
strength, e.g. unplasticized PVC, TPU, ABS, PP, TPE.
[0012] When selecting the material for the support spiral, it
should expediently be made sure that the material can well be
bonded with the material selected for the hose wall.
[0013] Advantageously, the stretch ratio of the stretch hose is at
least 1.5:1. That means that the stretch hose can be stretched to
at least 1.5 times its basic length in compact, contracted state,
without permanent deformation and without overstressing the support
spiral acting as a tension spring.
[0014] Advantageously, the spring constant effective when the
stretch hose is stretched has a value of 5 N/m to 25 N/m.
[0015] FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section through a stretch hose
(in detail). An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained
in detail in the following by means of the drawing.
[0016] The stretch hose 2 shown in FIG. 1 in a longitudinal section
comprises a support spiral 4 (this designation has become
customary, although the term "helix" or "screw" would actually be
more correct) coiling in the manner of a helical line around an
imaginary cylinder. It also comprises a hose wall 6, which is
extruded or consists of a rolled-up plastic sheet or a plastic band
whose edges are bonded or glued together, said hose wall 6 being
connected (e.g. bonded) to the support spiral 4 at corresponding
contact points 8 located, in the present exemplary embodiment,
outside, and being supported by said support spiral 4. The stretch
hose 2 can, therefore, be used as a suction and pressure hose. In a
variant (not shown), the support spiral 4 can also be completely
integrated in the hose wall 6 or be covered by the latter, so that
it will not get into contact with the flow medium flowing in the
stretch hose 2.
[0017] In the compact basic configuration shown in the FIGURE, the
hose wall 6, viewed in section, has a wave-like profile or a
profile provided with folds 10, so that under tensile stress, the
stretch hose 2 can be stretched and thus, extended, if required, at
its ends in longitudinal direction 12, in the manner of a
concertina or of expansion bellows, against the building-up spring
resistance of the elements support spiral 4 and hose wall 6 acting
as a tension spring, maximally up to a complete extension of all
freely movable profile bends or folds 10, e.g. to at least 1.5
times its basic length. When the ends are released, the stretch
hose 2 will automatically contract, as a consequence of the spring
resistance acting in longitudinal direction 12.
[0018] Contrary to the stretch hoses known so far, which are
provided with a support spiral made of steel wire, the support
spiral 4 of the stretch hose 2 is made of synthetic material, in
the present exemplary embodiment, of TPU. This material has a
higher modulus of elasticity than the material of the hose wall 6,
in the present exemplary embodiment, also TPU, but with a lower
modulus of elasticity. Therefore, this particularly preferred
material selection for the support spiral 4 assures, with a
relatively low weight, both a sufficient radial strength and,
together with the hose wall, a suitable stretching force in
longitudinal direction 12, which is, however, in general lower than
that of wire spirals of the same size.
[0019] At the contact points 8, the support spiral 4 and the hose
wall 6 are bonded together.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS
[0020] 2 Stretch hose [0021] 4 Support spiral [0022] 6 Hose wall
[0023] 8 Contact point [0024] 10 Fold [0025] 12 Longitudinal
direction
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