U.S. patent application number 12/797798 was filed with the patent office on 2010-12-16 for flexible, abrasion resistant textile sleeve and method of construction thereof.
Invention is credited to Emi Kashihara.
Application Number | 20100313989 12/797798 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 43305356 |
Filed Date | 2010-12-16 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100313989 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kashihara; Emi |
December 16, 2010 |
FLEXIBLE, ABRASION RESISTANT TEXTILE SLEEVE AND METHOD OF
CONSTRUCTION THEREOF
Abstract
A textile sleeve for routing and protecting elongate members and
method of construction thereof is provided. The sleeve includes an
elongate wall having opposite edges extending parallel to a central
axis of the sleeve. The wall is woven with warp yams extending
parallel to the axis and fill yarns extending transverse to the
warp yams. The warp yarns are provided as monofilament yarns to
provide abrasion resistance and the fill yams are provided as both
monofilament yams to provide further abrasion resistance and
multifilament yams to provide increased coverage, maintain
flexibility, and to maintain the warp monofilaments in their
intended position.
Inventors: |
Kashihara; Emi; (Sagamihara,
JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
ROBERT L. STEARNS;Dickinson Wright PLLC
Ste. 2000, 38525 Woodward Avenue
Bloomfield Hills
MI
48304-2970
US
|
Family ID: |
43305356 |
Appl. No.: |
12/797798 |
Filed: |
June 10, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61186174 |
Jun 11, 2009 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
139/387R ;
139/11 |
Current CPC
Class: |
D03D 3/08 20130101; D03D
1/0041 20130101; D10B 2331/04 20130101; D10B 2331/301 20130101;
D03D 15/00 20130101; B60R 16/0215 20130101; H02G 3/0481 20130101;
D10B 2401/04 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
139/387.R ;
139/11 |
International
Class: |
D03D 3/02 20060101
D03D003/02; D03D 41/00 20060101 D03D041/00 |
Claims
1. A textile sleeve for routing and protecting elongate members,
comprising: an elongate wall having opposite edges extending
parallel to a central axis of the sleeve, said wall being woven
with warp yarns extending parallel to said axis and fill yams
extending transverse to said warp yarns, said warp yarns being
provided as monofilament yarns and said fill yarns being provided
as monofilament yams and multifilament yarns.
2. The textile sleeve of claim 1 wherein said monofilament and
multifilament fill yams are dual inserted with said warp yarns to
provide discrete pairs of said monofilament and multifilament fill
yams spaced axially along said central axis from one another by
interstices.
3. The textile sleeve of claim 2 wherein said fill yarns are woven
having between about 8-12 picks per inch.
4. The textile sleeve of claim 1 wherein said monofilament fill
yarns are heat set to bias the wall into a curled configuration
about said central axis.
5. The textile sleeve of claim 5 wherein said opposite edges are
biased by said monofilament fill yams in overlapping relation with
one another.
6. The textile sleeve of claim 1 wherein said warp yams are
provided solely as monofilament yarns.
7. A method of constructing a textile sleeve, comprising: weaving
an elongate wall having opposite edges extending parallel to a
central axis of the sleeve with the wall being having warp yarns
extending parallel to the axis and fill yams extending transverse
to the warp yarns; and providing the warp yams as monofilament
yarns and the fill yams as monofilament yarns and multifilament
yarns.
8. The method of claim 7 further including dual inserting the
monofilament and multifilament fill yarns with the warp yarns to
provide discrete pairs of the monofilament and multifilament fill
yams spaced axially along the central axis from one another.
9. The method of claim 8 further including weaving the fill yams
having between about 8-12 picks per inch.
10. The method of claim 7 further including heat-setting the
monofilament fill yams to bias the wall into a curled configuration
about the central axis.
11. The method of claim 10 further including biasing the opposite
edges with the monofilament fill yams in overlapping relation with
one another.
12. The method of claim 7 further including providing the warp
yarns solely as monofilament yarns.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional
Application Ser. No. 61/186,174, filed Jun. 11, 2009, which is
incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Technical Field
[0003] This invention relates generally to textile sleeves for
protecting elongate members, and more particularly to woven
sleeves. 2. Related Art
[0004] It is known to wrap wires and wire harnesses in protective
sleeves, such as in automobiles, aircraft or aerospace craft, to
provide protection to the wires against abrasion, fluid and thermal
affects. In order to achieve the desired protection, the protective
sleeve may have multiple layers, with some of the layers being
specifically provided for different types of protection. For
example, one layer may be provided for water resistance, e.g. a
sheet of plastic material, while another layer may be provided for
abrasion resistance, and yet another layer may be provided for
protection against thermal conditions, e.g. a non-woven layer.
Unfortunately, although the aforementioned multilayer sleeves may
provide suitable protection against the various environmental
conditions, they are typically bulky, thereby requiring an
increased volume of space, being relatively heavy and exhibiting
limited flexibility. This can prove detrimental in some
applications, particularly applications requiring routing through
tight, winding areas, and applications having weight restrictions,
such as aircraft and aerospace applications, for example. In order
to reduce the bulk and improve the flexibility of the sleeves, it
is also known to use tightly woven multifilament and monofilament
yams in both the warp and fill directions. However, having to use a
tight weave typically comes at an increased cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0005] One aspect of the invention provides a woven sleeve for
routing and protecting elongate members from exposure to abrasion
and other environmental conditions, such as contamination. The
sleeve has a flexible, abrasion resistant, self-curling elongate
wall constructed from woven monofilament and multifilament yarns.
The wall has opposite edges extending generally parallel to a
central axis of the sleeve, wherein the opposite edges are biased
into a self-curled overlapping relation with one another. The wall
is woven with warp monofilament yarns and fill monofilament and
multifilament yams. The warp monofilament yarns provide the sleeve
with abrasion resistance; the fill monofilament yams provide the
self-curling bias to the wall, while also providing enhanced
abrasion resistance, while the fill multifilament yarns provide
further protection to the elongate members within the sleeve by
inhibiting the ingress of contamination, debris and the like, while
also providing the sleeve with enhanced flexibility and imparting
friction on the warp monofilaments to maintain the warp
monofilaments in their intended, as woven position.
[0006] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the
monofilament and multifilament fill yarns are dual inserted to
provide pairs of the monofilament and multifilament yarns spaced
axially from one another by interstices.
[0007] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method
of constructing a textile sleeve is provided. The method includes
weaving an elongate wall having opposite edges extending parallel
to a central axis of the sleeve with the wall having warp yarns
extending parallel to the axis and fill yams extending transverse
to the warp yarns. Further, the method includes providing the warp
yams as monofilament yams and the fill yams as monofilament yarns
and multifilament yams.
[0008] In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, the
method includes dual inserting the monofilament and multifilament
fill yams with the warp yarns and providing discrete pairs of the
monofilament and multifilament fill yarns spaced axially along the
central axis from one another.
[0009] A sleeve constructed in accordance with the invention not
only provides enhanced protection to elongate members contained
therein, but is also economical in manufacture.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0010] These and other aspects, features and advantages will become
readily apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the
following detailed description of presently preferred embodiments
and best mode, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, in
which:
[0011] FIG. 1 is schematic perspective view of a woven,
self-wrapping sleeve constructed in accordance with one aspect of
the invention carrying and protecting elongate members therein;
and
[0012] FIG. 2 is an enlarged partial view of a wall of the sleeve
of FIG. 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0013] Referring in more detail to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows
schematic representation of a woven, self-wrapping textile sleeve,
referred to hereafter as sleeve 10, constructed in accordance with
one aspect of the invention. The sleeve 10 has a self-wrapping
elongate wall 12 for routing and protecting elongate members, such
as wires or a wire harness 14, for example, from exposure to
abrasion and the ingress of contamination, debris and the like. The
elongate wall 12 has opposite edges 16, 17 extending generally
parallel to a central, longitudinal axis 18, wherein the edges 16,
17 are preferably biased into overlapping relation with one another
in "cigarette wrapped" fashion to fully enclose the elongate
members 14 within a central cavity 20 of the sleeve. The cavity 20
is readily accessible along the full length of the longitudinal
axis 18 so that the elongate members 14 can be readily disposed
radially into the cavity 20, and conversely, removed from the
cavity 20, such as during service. To provide protection to the
elongate members 14 against abrasion, the wall 12 is woven with
warp yarns 22 provided as monofilament yams and fill yarns 24
provided as monofilament yams, wherein the fill monofilament yams
24 provide additional, enhanced protection to the elongate members
14 against abrasion, while also providing the bias to self-curl the
opposite edges 16, 17 in overlapping relation with one another. The
bias is imparted by heat-setting the fill monofilament yams 24 into
their curled configuration about the central axis 18. In addition
to the fill monofilament yams 24, the wall 12 has fill yams 26
provided as multifilament yarns. The multifilament yarns 26 provide
additional surface area coverage of the wall 12 to the elongate
members 14 and inhibit ingress of contamination, debris, or the
like into the cavity 20, thereby providing enhanced protection to
the elongate members 14. In addition, the multifilament yarns 26
maintain the warp monofilaments 22 in place in their intended, as
woven position by imparting friction on the warp monofilaments 22,
while providing the sleeve 10 with sufficient flexibility for
routing around corners, for example.
[0014] Depending on the application needs, the wall 12 can be
constructed having any suitable size, including length and
diameter. When the wall 12 is in its self-wrapped tubular
configuration, generally free from any externally applied forces,
the edges 16, 17 preferably overlap one another at least slightly
to fully enclose the cavity 20, and thus, provide enhanced
protection to the wires 14 contained in the cavity 20. The edges
16, 17 are readily extendable away from one another under an
externally applied force sufficient to overcome the bias imparted
by the fill monofilament yarns 24 to at least partially open and
expose the cavity 20. Accordingly, the wires 14 can be readily
disposed into the cavity 20 during assembly or removed from the
cavity 20 during service. Upon releasing the externally applied
force, the edges 16, 17 return automatically to their natural,
overlapping self-wrapped position under the bias imparted by the
heat-set fill monofilament yarns 24.
[0015] The monofilament yarns 22, 24 can be provided as any
suitable heat-settable polymeric material, such as polyphenylene
sulfide (PPS) or polyethyleneterephthalate (PET), for example. In
one exemplary sleeve embodiment, the monofilament yarns 22, 24 were
provided as PET having a diameter of about 0.22 mm. The wall 12 was
formed having a width (dimension extending between the edges 16, 17
with the wall 12 in a flattened state) of about 42 mm, and the
number of ends of the warp monofilaments 22 was 48. The fill
monofilament yarns 24 and the fill multifilament yarns 26 were dual
inserted having a pick per inch (PPI) of 10, however, a PPI between
about 8-12 is considered to be within a workable range. With such a
low PPI, interstices 28 are formed within the wall 12. Accordingly,
the monofilament and multifilament fill yarns 24, 26 provide
discrete pairs of the circumferentially extending monofilament and
multifilament fill yarns spaced axially along the central axis 18
from one another by the interstices 28 extending axially
therebetween. The multifilament yarns 26 were provided having a
denier of about 1250. The yarns 22, 24, 26 were woven using a plain
weave which resulted in the sleeve 10 having a wall thickness of
about 0.6 mm. In yet another exemplary sleeve embodiment, the
number of ends of the warp monofilaments 22 was 52, with all other
yarn factors remaining the same. It should be recognized that these
yarn factors can be modified by one skilled in the art in dimension
and number, while maintaining the warp yarns 22 as purely
monofilaments and the fill yarns 24, 26 as a combination of
monofilaments and multifilaments, while remaining within the spirit
and scope of the invention.
[0016] With the warp yarns 22 being provided as purely
monofilaments, the abrasion resistance of the sleeve assembly 10 is
enhanced. Further, with some of the fill yarns 24 being provided as
monofilaments, additional protection against abrasion is provided.
Further yet, with some of the fill yarns 26 being provided as
multifilaments, added surface area coverage is provided to the wall
12 to the elongate members 14, thereby further protecting the
cavity 20 against ingress of contamination, and further, the
multifilaments act to maintain the warp monofilaments 22 in their
intended location, even under external abrasion force.
[0017] Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present
invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is,
therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended
claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as
specifically described.
* * * * *