EP3276635B1 - Rubber or plastic hose line and method for its manufacture - Google Patents

Description

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a rubber or plastic hose line for a cable drum or extension line, which is designed as a cable for electrical current. The invention further relates to a method for producing a rubber or plastic hose line.

Background of the Invention

Rubber or plastic hose lines are known. These are used, for example, for extension cables or cable drums. In practice, cables with a plastic sheathing, for example a PVC sheathing, are mainly used indoors. On the other hand, more robust rubber hose lines, which are less sensitive to UV radiation, are used outdoors, especially for electrical garden tools.

Both plastic lines and rubber hose lines are available in different colors. In practice, the rubber hose lines used outdoors are available in red and black, for example. The disadvantage is that the known single-color cables are not easily recognizable on every surface. For example, red rubber hose lines on red sand floors, such as those used for tennis courts or running tracks, are difficult to see.

This is associated with a corresponding risk of an accident, for example because the line is damaged with an electrical device, such as a lawn mower, or because the line which is not easily recognizable triggers a risk of stumbling.

The document US 2015/179307 A1 shows a signal striped cable with several conductors. The document US 6,437,248 B1 shows a color-coded underwater cable. The document CN 202 839 070 U shows a cable with stripes embedded in the jacket. document CN 202 025 548 U shows a multicolored cable for the avionics sector. The documents US 2002/129968 A1 . WO 92/00592 A1 and EP 0 076 229 A1 show multi-core cables.

EP 2 367 177 A1 discloses a plastic hose line according to the Oberbergiff of claim 1 with an extruded jacket made of two layers and in one color.

Object of the invention

The invention is based on the object of improving the disadvantages of the prior art.

It is in particular an object of the invention to provide a rubber or plastic hose line, the visibility of which is improved even on different substrates.

Summary of the invention

The invention is already achieved by a rubber or plastic hose line for a cable drum or extension line according to claim 1 and by a method for their production.

Preferred embodiments and developments of the invention can be found in the subject matter of the dependent claims, the description and the drawings.

The invention relates to a rubber or plastic hose, which is designed as a current-conducting cable. This comprises at least three wires, each with an insulation covering. Two of these wires are used for connection to phase and neutral conductors, while the remaining conductor serves as a protective conductor.

In a further embodiment, the rubber or plastic hose line is designed as a three-phase line and accordingly comprises four or five wires.

The jacket has a substantially circular cross section.

The invention relates to a rubber or plastic hose, which is designed as a cable of the type H05 or H07 RR, RN or VV.

Such lines, provided with earthing contact plugs, are used for a cable drum or extension line.

For this purpose, the rubber or plastic hose line has a length of preferably more than 1 m, particularly preferably more than 2.5 m, and very particularly preferably more than 4 m. The wires sheathed with the insulation are arranged in an extruded sheath made of rubber or plastic, which according to the invention comprises at least two areas in which the rubber or plastic from which the sheath is made is of a different color.

The invention therefore relates to a multi-colored cable, in particular a multi-colored cable with a striped design.

According to the invention, the strips extend over the entire length of the cable.

This can comprise 2 or more, in particular 3, 4, 5 or 6, areas which have a different color than an adjacent area.

The jacket is preferably made of materials from exactly two or exactly three different colors. In particular, the jacket can include the following color combinations: orange / black, red / white, red / black, red / green, yellow / black or red / yellow.

The recognizability of a jacket designed in this way is thus improved in a simple manner.

According to the invention, the wires have a line cross section of 1 to 3 mm ² .

According to the invention, the jacket consists of a rubber, in particular a chloroprene rubber, a silicone rubber or PVC.

Rubbers and silicones are particularly intended for use of the cable outdoors. If the cable is used for an extension line or a cable drum, this includes, according to the invention, a protective contact plug, preferably a splash-proof protective contact plug.

The jacket is adjacent to the insulation of the wires.

According to the invention, therefore, the jacket is extruded without further intermediate insulation layer, in particular directly around the insulated wires. It has been found that such a multicolored cable can be produced easily and without further intermediate insulation layers.

However, it goes without saying that this does not rule out that the insulation of the wires is provided with a release agent, that is to say no intermediate layer of insulation, such as talcum, before the sheath is extruded on.

According to the invention, the jacket is formed in one layer. This is understood to mean that the differently colored layers extend over the entire thickness of the jacket and only adjoin one another at the edge.

The jacket preferably comprises (in percent by weight) 10-90%, particularly preferably 30-70% of a material of a first color and / or 10-90%, preferably 30-70%, of a material of a second color.

In one embodiment, the jacket comprises a strip of a first color which is narrower than an adjacent area of the jacket of a different color.

In this embodiment of the invention, it is provided in particular that the jacket comprises one or more narrow strips of a signal color, such as red, yellow or orange.

The invention further relates to an extension or a cable drum, which comprises a rubber or plastic hose line, which was described above. The strip or strips preferably have a width of less than 3 mm.

The invention further relates to a connection line provided with a protective contact plug for electrical appliances, in particular gardening appliances, such as hedge trimmers, lawn mowers, lawn trimmers, tools, in particular drills and saws, and for household appliances such as washing machines and dryers.

Furthermore, the invention comprises a method for producing a rubber or plastic hose line described above, the jacket being extruded around the wires provided with insulation.

According to the invention, the jacket is extruded by means of at least two extrusion machines, a first color being extruded by means of a first extrusion machine and a further color being extruded by means of a second extrusion machine.

By using a thermoplastic, such as PVC, the areas of different colors are extruded directly onto the jacket, the thermoplastic being so molten that the areas of different colors are bonded together in the molten state.

In the method according to the invention, at least two extrusion machines are used, by means of which the rubber or plastic material is conveyed in the molten state.

These at least two extrusion machines convey the molten rubber or plastic to an extrusion die. In the extrusion tool, the rubber or plastic is applied in strips, preferably in four strips, to the lines which are led onto the extrusion tool.

The encapsulation tool thus has a central channel through which the electrical lines which are to be encapsulated by means of a multicolored jacket are introduced.

The extrusion die is also connected to the two extrusion machines. The design of the encapsulation tool determines how many webs are applied to the lines and in what ratio.

According to the invention, the encapsulation tool is designed in such a way that the rubber or plastic material of an extrusion machine rests in two opposite tracks the pipe can be extruded. For example, two extrusion machines can be used to produce a rubber or plastic hose line with four webs, the opposite webs of which each have the same color.

According to the invention, an overmolding tool is used which has an insert in which the channel for inserting the lines is arranged.

The outside of this insert is provided with at least two dividers which divide the rubber or plastic into at least two webs. Via the dividers, the material is first separated from one another in webs when it is introduced via the extrusion machines and then brought together in order to form a cohesive bond even in the molten state and thus form several webs of different colors after curing or crosslinking.

In a further development of the invention, an encapsulation tool is used which has a channel through which extruded rubber or plastic is guided to an opposite side of the line.

This embodiment of the invention is intended in particular to apply four webs to the lines by means of two extrusion machines. This creates a rubber or plastic hose with a sheath divided into four segments, two segments of which have a first color and two other segments have a second color.

The channel, in order to transport the rubber or plastic material to the opposite side, is preferably in use of the encapsulation tool. For this purpose, it is particularly provided that the encapsulation tool is designed in several parts, so that molten material can be passed between an inner part and an outer part.

Brief description of the drawings

• Fig. 1 zeigt eine schematische Schnittansicht eines Beispiel, außerhalb der Erfindung, einer mehrfarbigen Mantel einer Gummi- oder Kunststoffschlauchleitung.
• Fig. 2 und Fig. 3 sind schematische Seitenansichten eines Abschnitts einer erfindungsgemäßen Gummi- oder Kunststoffschlauchleitung.
• Fig. 4 ist eine schematische Ansicht einer Anlage zur Herstellen einer erfindungsgemäßen Gummi- oder Kunststoffschlauchleitung.
• Fig. 5 ist eine perspektivische Ansicht eines in dem Umspritzwerkzeug der Anlage verwendeten Einsatzes.
• Fig. 6 bis Fig. 8 sind perspektivische Ansichten eines alternativen Ausführungsbeispiels eines Einsatzes, mittels dessen sich vier Gummi- oder Kunststoffbahnen aufspritzen lassen.

The invention will be described below with reference to schematically illustrated exemplary embodiments with reference to the drawings 1 to 3 are explained in more detail.

• Fig. 1 shows a schematic sectional view of an example, outside the invention, of a multi-colored jacket of a rubber or plastic hose line.
• Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 are schematic side views of a portion of a rubber or plastic hose assembly according to the invention.
• Fig. 4 is a schematic view of a plant for producing a rubber or plastic hose line according to the invention.
• Fig. 5 is a perspective view of an insert used in the overmolding tool of the plant.
• 6 to 8 are perspective views of an alternative embodiment of an insert by means of which four rubber or plastic sheets can be sprayed.

Detailed description of the drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an example, outside the invention, of a multi-colored sheath of a rubber or plastic hose line, which is designed as a cable 1.

The cable 1 comprises three electrically conductive wires 4, each of which is covered with insulation 5. A jacket 2 made of rubber or plastic is extruded around the insulated wires 4.

According to the invention, the inside of the jacket 2 is not, as shown here, a channel with a precisely circular cross section, but rather the jacket 2 adapts to the inside of the contour of the insulation 5.

In this example, the jacket 2 comprises areas 3a, 3b which consist of a plastic or a rubber of a different color.

In this example, the jacket 2 is divided into four regions of equal size, as viewed in cross section, each of which extends around a quarter of the circumference. Fig. 2 shows a side view of such a cable. It can be seen that an area 3a and an area 3b can be seen in this view.

Due to the different color of the areas 3a and 3b, the cable 1 can be seen better.

Fig. 3 shows an alternative embodiment of a cable 1 in a side view. In this exemplary embodiment, the region 3b is designed as a narrow strip which adjoins the regions 3a. This narrow strip can in particular have a signal color.

Fig. 4 shows in a schematic view a system for producing a multi-colored rubber or plastic hose.

The system comprises an overmolding tool 9, of which only the housing is shown schematically here.

The already insulated lines 7 are inserted into the encapsulation tool 9 on one side in order to be encapsulated with plastic.

After the extrusion coating, the cable 1 configured as a multicolored rubber or plastic hose line comes out of the encapsulation tool 9 and can optionally be subjected to further manufacturing steps, for example by crosslinking the still molten material or cooling it.

In order to introduce the rubber or plastic material, the housing of the extrusion die 9 is connected on both sides to an extrusion machine 8a, 8b, via which the rubber or plastic raw material is conveyed to the extrusion die 9 in a molten state.

Such extrusion machines are known from the prior art.

The most important component of the encapsulation tool 9 is an insert which is inserted into the housing 9 of the encapsulation tool.

Fig. 5 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of such an insert 10.

The insert 10 is installed in a cylindrical recess in the housing of the extrusion die.

In the lower region of the insert 10 shown here, the rubber or plastic material is introduced from the two opposite extrusion machines from the side.

In this exemplary embodiment, the insert at the point in which the material is introduced comprises a splitter 12, via which the molten material of an extrusion machine is divided and via the channels 14a and 14b in the direction of the lines of the cable to be extruded.

The lines are inserted into the channel 11 from a rear side and are provided with the multicolored rubber or plastic jacket when leaving the channel 11.

In order to ensure a clean separation of the material of the two extrusion machines in two webs, the insert 10 comprises two dividers 15. The dividers 15 separate the material of the two extrusion machines after injection. It goes without saying that the side of the insert 10 opposite this illustration is configured identically or similarly.

The dividers 15 are designed in such a way that they run out in the direction of the cable to be extruded, and consequently the material of an extrusion machine flowing out of the channels 14a and 14b connects above the dividers 15 to the material of the other extrusion machine, two webs being delimited from one another.

The splitter 12, after which an island 13 protrudes and via which the material of an extrusion machine is first divided into two streams along the channels 14a and 14b, serves to split the material of an extrusion machine into two sub-streams, which means that the webs of different material stick together above the divider 15 improved.

The material of an extrusion machine flows together again after the island 13, which is designed in the form of drops in this exemplary embodiment.

Due to the fact that the material has to dodge after injection into the extrusion die of the island 13, the material flows coming from the two extrusion machines are connected in a secure manner above the dividers 15.

It goes without saying that in another embodiment of the invention, which is not shown here, the splitter 12 and the island 13 may also be dispensed with.

Referring to 6 to 8 An alternative embodiment of an insert 10 is to be explained in more detail, by means of which the material of two extrusion machines is divided into a total of four extruded webs.

The insert 10 also comprises a central channel 11 through which the lines (in this view below) are introduced and (in this view above) and are provided with a multi-colored jacket.

In contrast to the insert described above, the material of an extrusion machine is injected into the laterally arranged channel 25.

A splitter 16 is located in the channel 25.

Via the channel 25, part of the material of an extrusion machine exits on the same side through an outlet 17 arranged above it and is guided along the axially arranged channel 19 in the direction of the cable to be extruded.

In order to reliably separate the material from the material of the other extrusion machine after leaving the channel 17 and to guide it, this insert also includes the dividers 18, which are designed as pointed prongs, and thus run out in the direction of the cable to be extruded.

Fig. 7 Figure 10 is a perspective view of the opposite side of the insert shown in Figure 10.

It can be seen that an outlet 20 is also present on this side, via which the corresponding to the Fig. 6 the material of the extrusion machine that goes into channel 25 ( Fig. 6 ) is directed, exits. The outlet 20 is therefore with the in Fig. 6 shown channel 25 connected.

The material of an extrusion machine is divided into two opposite segments, which can take up a quarter of the circumference of the cable sheath, for example.

Dividers 18 are also present on this side, which initially separate the material.

On the here in Fig. 7 The side shown is connected to the second extrusion machine, the material of which is divided in this exemplary embodiment via the splitter 21 and is guided in the direction of the cable to be extruded via the channels 22a and 22b which exit the side of the splitter 21.

In this exemplary embodiment, the splitter 21 already serves to divide the material of the second extrusion machine into two partial streams. These two partial flows combine above the dividers 18 with the two partial flows from the other extrusion machine, which flow out of the outlets 17 and 20.

Fig. 8 shows the in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 insert 10 shown in a plan view of the exit of the channel 11 through which the line is guided.

It can be seen that the material of the two extrusion machines is divided into a total of four webs via the dividers 18.

In order to be able to guide the material of an extrusion machine to the opposite side, the insert 10 comprises an inner part 24, by means of which, in cooperation with the outer part of the insert 10, a channel can be formed which connects the inlet of the channel 25 to the outlet 20.

The invention has made it possible to provide a cable which is designed as a rubber or plastic hose line and is visually appealing and its recognizability is improved in a simple manner.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

electric wire

2

coat

3a

Area

3b

Area

4

Vein

5

insulation

6

investment

7

management

8a, 8b

extrusion machine

9

Umspritzwerkzeug

10

commitment

11

channel

12

splinter

13

island

14a, 14b

channel

15

divider

16

splinter

17

outlet

18

divider

19

channel

20

outlet

21

splinter

22a, 22b

channel

23

channel

24

inner part

25

channel

Claims (8)

1. A rubber or plastic cable (1) for an extension cable or a cable drum with shock-proof plugs, comprising
   at least three conductors (4) that are each sheathed with an insulation (5), wherein the conductors that are sheathed with the insulation are arranged in an extruded sheath (2) made of rubber or plastic,
   wherein two of the at least three conductors serve for connection to phase and neutral conductors while the remaining conductor serves as a protective conductor, and wherein the conductors each have a cable cross-section of 1 to 3 mm², wherein the sheath consists of natural rubber, silicone rubber or PVC, characterized in that the sheath is formed as a single layer and comprises at least two regions (3a, b) in which the rubber or plastic is formed in a different color, wherein the layers having different colors extend over the entire thickness of the sheath and are adjacent to each other only on the edge sides, and wherein the inner side of the sheath does not have a passage that is precisely circular in cross-section but the sheath adjusts to the contour of the insulations of the conductors on its inner side.
2. The rubber or plastic cable in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sheath consists of chloroprene rubber.
3. The rubber or plastic cable in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sheath is arranged directly adjacent to the insulation.
4. The rubber or plastic cable in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sheath comprises 10 to 90 per cent, preferably 30 to 70 per cent, of a material of a first color and/or 10 to 90 per cent, preferably 30 to 70 per cent, of a material of a second color.
5. The rubber or plastic cable in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sheath is striped.
6. The rubber or plastic cable in accordance with the preceding claim, characterized in that the sheath comprises at least one stripe of a first color, the at least one stripe being narrower than an adjacent region of the sheath.
7. A method for the manufacture of a rubber or plastic cable for an extension cable or a cable drum in accordance with Claim 1 with a, wherein the sheath is extruded around the conductors that are provided with the insulation, wherein the sheath is extruded by means of two extruders, wherein the rubber or plastic is, in an extrusion-coating tool, applied onto the cables that are passed through the extrusion-coating tool in at least two webs, wherein use is made of an extrusion-coating tool with an insert in which a passage for introducing the cables is arranged, wherein the outside of this insert is provided with at least two dividers which divide the rubber or plastic into at least two webs, and wherein the material is first separated into webs and then brought together via the dividers when it is introduced by means of the extruders, so that it can combine in a positively bonded manner while it is still in the molten state and can thus form a plurality of webs of different colors after curing or cross-linking.
8. The method in accordance with the preceding claim, characterized in that use is made of an extrusion-coated tool which has a passage through which extruded rubber or plastic is passed to an opposite side of the cable.

Images