WO1999054535A1

WO1999054535A1 - Protective sleeve

Info

Publication number: WO1999054535A1
Application number: PCT/GB1999/000775
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carol Jayne Pindar; David Thornton Pindar
Original assignee: Federal-Mogul Technology Limited
Priority date: 1998-04-18
Filing date: 1999-03-15
Publication date: 1999-10-28
Also published as: GB9808287D0; AR014985A1; AU2846199A; GB9905750D0; GB2336419A

Abstract

A protective sleeve (10) comprising a tubular wall. The tubular wall comprises a plurality of similar strands (11, 13) of flexible material which are formed into a fabric. Said wall also comprises at least one additional strand (15, 16) which comprises a substantially unextendable core (15) on which is formed a layer of cushioning material (16). The cushioning material (16) forms cushioning projections (17) on at least one of the external and internal surfaces of the wall.

Description

PROTECTIVE SLEEVE

This invention is concerned with a protective sleeve, in particular a flexible protective sleeve. Flexible protective sleeves are widely used, eg in the engine compartments of vehicles, to protect elongated members such as wires and pipes from damage. Such sleeves extend around and along the elongated member to protect it from abrasion damage, heat etc. Since such sleeves have to conform to the path taken by the elongated member, the sleeves need to be flexible and not distort, eg by kinking, upon bending.

One known type of protective sleeve comprises a plurality of similar strands of flexible material which are formed into a fabric by being braided together to form a tubular wall within which the elongated member can be accommodated. Conventionally, the strands are identical to one another, being monofilaments of plastics material such as polyester or nylon, or multi-filament yarns of glass fibre or polyester. The sleeve may be formed from twelve or more such strands. Such a sleeve may provide a continuous tubular wall or may have a longitudinal slit therein to allow the sleeve to be fitted over an elongated member. In the latter case, the wall may be heat-set into its tubular shape.

Conventional protective sleeves often cause undesirable noise due to contact with adjacent members or due to rubbing contact or rattling between the sleeve and an elongated member protected thereby. For example, the vibrations of an internal combustion engine can give rise to such noise. WO 90/14455 discloses a sleeve which is formed from monofilaments and "bulky yarn", ie low density, high surface area multifilament yarn. This sleeve has sound deadening properties due to compression of the bulky yarn but such a sleeve has limited uses due to the properties inherent in such a bulky yarn.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a widely-applicable protective sleeve formed from strands, the sleeve having good noise-reducing properties.

The invention provides a protective sleeve comprising a tubular wall, the tubular wall comprising a plurality of similar strands of flexible material which are formed into a fabric, characterised in that said wall also comprises at least one additional strand which comprises a substantially unextendable core on which is formed a layer of cushioning material, the cushioning material forming cushioning projections on at least one of the external and internal surfaces of the wall.

Suitable fabric-forming operations, for use in forming a sleeve according to the invention, include braiding, knitting and weaving. Said additional strands forming the wall of a sleeve according to the invention may have their substantially unextendable core formed by a conventional monofilament or yarn as described above. The cushioning material can be selected to suit the particular requirements for the sleeve, for example the cushioning material may be inherently resilient, eg a rubber-like material or a resilient foam, or be formed from fibres, eg flocking may be used. For example, short fibres, eg of nylon, may be adhered to a monofilament or yarn to form such flocking. A sleeve according to the invention may have a longitudinal slit.

In a protective sleeve according to the invention, the cushioning projections, if on the external surface of the sleeve, reduce noise caused by contact between the sleeve and adjacent members and, if on the internal surface of the sleeve, reduce noise caused by contact between the sleeve and the elongated member protected by the sleeve. Preferably, however, said cushioning projections are on both the external surface and the internal surface of the sleeve. The substantially unextendable core enables the additional strands to pass through a textile machine substantially without stretching which could cause distortion of the sleeve.

Preferably, in a sleeve according to the invention, said additional strand has a greater diameter than said similar strands.

Said additional strand may comprise a continuous skin substantially surrounding the cushioning material. The skin serves to prevent the cushioning material from absorbing liquids.

In one example, the additional strand is formed from an aramid fibre core having a nitrile rubber foam layer thereon.

The additional strand may follow a helical path along the sleeve so that cushioning projections are circumferentially distributed around the sleeve to provide cushioning against contacts from all directions.

A sleeve according to the invention may have a plurality of additional strands circumferentially distributed around the sleeve. For example, there may be three or four such strands each of which may follow a helical path.

There now follows a detailed description, to be read with reference to the accompanying drawings, of a protective sleeve which is illustrative of the invention. In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic transverse cross-section taken through the illustrative sleeve, the direction of the cross-section is indicated by the line I-I in Figure 2; and

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic side view of the portion of the illustrative sleeve.

The illustrative sleeve 10 shown in the drawings comprises a tubular wall formed from a plurality of strands of flexible material which have been formed into a fabric by a braiding operation. Specifically, there are ten similar strands provided by conventional monofilaments of extruded polyester, and two additional strands. Said similar strands consist of six strands 11 which extend parallel to one another and four strands 13 which extend parallel to one another but at right angles to the strands 11. The two additional strands 15 extend parallel to the strands 13 but are of different construction.

The additional strands each have a substantially unextendable core 15, provided by a conventional monofilament of extruded polyester, and a layer of cushioning material 16 on the core 15. Specifically, the cushioning material 16 is formed from resilient material, specifically nitrile rubber. The additional strands 15, 16 are cylindrical and have a greater diameter than the strands 11 and 13. The additional strands 15, 16 are distributed equally circumferentially around the sleeve 10 with two of the strands 13 positioned between them, 15, ie the six strands 13 and 15, 16 are arranged so that every third strand is one of the additional strands 15, 16.

The strands 11 and 13, and the additional strands 15, 16 all extend along helical paths along the sleeve 10. The strands are inter-woven so that each passes alternately over and under the strands extending at right angles thereto. This means that the additional strands 15, 16 have strands 11 crossing above and below them. The strands 11 compress cushioning material 16 of the additional strands 15, 16 at the crossing points but the cushioning material 16 bulges out of the wall both inwardly and outwardly between the crossing points. These bulges form cushioning projections 17 on the external and internal surfaces of the wall of the sleeve 10.

The protective sleeve 10 is arranged to protect an elongated member positioned within the tubular wall of the sleeve 10. The projections 17 on the internal surface of the wall serve to cushion impacts between the elongated member and the sleeve 10 and the projections 17 on the external surface of the wall serve to cushion impacts between the sleeve 10 and nearby items.

Claims

A protective sleeve (10) comprising a tubular wall, the tubular wall comprising a plurality of similar strands (11, 13) of flexible material which are formed into a fabric, characterised in that said wall also comprises at least one additional strand (15, 16) which comprises a substantially unextendable core (15) on which is formed a layer of cushioning material (16) , the cushioning material forming cushioning projections (17) on at least one of the external and internal surfaces of the wall.

A sleeve according to claim 1, characterised in that said cushioning projections (17) are on both the external surface and the internal surface of the sleeve (10) .

A sleeve according to either one of claims 1 and 2, characterised in that said additional strand (15, 16) has a greater diameter than said similar strands (11, 13) .

A sleeve according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that said cushioning material (16) is a resilient material.

A sleeve according to claim 4 , characterised in that said cushioning material (16) is substantially enclosed by a continuous skin.

A sleeve according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that said cushioning material (16) comprises flocking. A sleeve according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that said additional strand (15, 16) follows a helical path along said wall.

A sleeve according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterised in that the sleeve (10) has a plurality of said additional strands (15, 16) , said additional strands being circumferentially distributed around the sleeve (10) .