CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 62/468,693, filed March 8, 2017, U.S. Utility Application Serial No. 15/908,791, filed February 28, 2018, and which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

[0002] This invention relates generally to textile sleeves for protecting elongate members, and more particularly to braided textile sleeves.

2. Related Art

[0003] Tubular textile sleeves are known for use to provide protection to internally contained elongate members, such as wire harnesses, fluid or gas conveying tubes, or cables, for example. It is further known to braid tubular textile sleeves for protecting elongate members contained therein. Modem vehicle applications for such sleeves are requiring greater protection to the elongate members, such as against increased environmental temperatures and increased resistance to abrasion, and are further requiring enhanced flexibility due to having to be routed over tight meandering paths. These increased demands require the sleeves to pass increasingly stringent test parameters, such as exposure to increased temperatures and exposure to specifically defined abrasion test specifications.

[0004] A braided sleeve constructed in accordance with this invention is able to meet the increasingly demanding temperature and abrasion resistant test parameters, as well as demonstrate greatly enhanced flexibility, with other benefits likely to become readily recognized by those possessing ordinary skill in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] A textile sleeve having a seamless, flexible, abrasion resistant, thermally protective, single layer tubular wall of braided yams is provided. At least some yarns of the wall are heat-set and/or plastically deformed to provide the wall with a permanent, tight, accordion-like, convolute shape, such that crests formed in the wall are immediately adjacent one another in abutting or nearly (meaning a slight gap between adjacent convolutes may exist, with the slight gap being no greater than about 1/4 the axial width of a single convolute, and preferably about 1/8 the axial width or less) abutting relation with one another to form a relatively dense wall thickness and low porosity compared to a known braided sleeve wall having a straight cylindrical (non-convolute) wall. The densely compressed convolutes provide the wall with a greatly enhanced abrasion resistance, a greatly enhanced thermal protection capacity, a greatly enhanced stone/debris impingement resistance, and a greatly enhanced noise absorption capacity while remaining compressed in use, due in part to the increased volume of insulative material and volume of air formed by and within the tight accordion-like shape of the wall. The densely compressed convolutes also provide the wall with a greatly enhanced flexibility such that the sleeve can be routed about tight meandering paths, including sharp bends, without kinking. Accordingly, the elongate member being protected within a cavity of the sleeve receives greatly enhanced protection against a multitude of conditions, including abrasion and environmental thermal effects, as well as being protected against potential damage from impact forces, such as from flying debris impacting the outer surface of the sleeve (e.g. stone impingement and the like). [0006] In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, a protective textile sleeve is provided having a flexible, tubular wall of braided yarns. At least some of the yams are provided as plastically deformable and/or heat-settable monofilaments that can be plastically deformed and/or heat-set upon being braided to provide the wall with an accordion-like, convolute shape. The convolute shape is formed by a plurality of alternating crests and valleys, wherein the crests are formed in tight, axially compressed relation with one another, with the valleys intervening between the crests being relatively narrow or short in axially extending length relative to the crests, thereby providing the wall, while in use, with an increased radially extending density over the thickness of the wall relative to if the wall did not include the crests and valleys, which in turn results in greatly increased protection against abrasion, thermal effects, impact forces, as well as suppression of noise transmission and noise generation. Further, with the wall having an accordion-like shape, greatly enhanced flexibility is attained without concern of kinking when routing the sleeve about meandering paths and about sharp bends, corners and the like.

[0007] In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, the wall can be formed entirely of heat-set yarns.

[0008] In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, the wall can be formed entirely of plastically deformed yarns.

[0009] In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, the wall can be formed of heat-set yarns and plastically deformed yarns.

[0010] In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, the wall can be formed entirely of heat-set and/or plastically deformed monofilaments.

[0011] In accordance with another aspect of the disclosure, the wall can include heat-set and/or non-heat-set multifilaments. [0012] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a method of constructing a textile sleeve for protecting an elongate member contained therein is provided. The method includes: braiding a circumferentially continuous wall including plastically deformable and/or heat-settable yams; compressing the wall axially along a longitudinal axis of the wall and forming the wall having an accordion-like shape with alternating crests and valleys, and plastically deforming and/or heat-setting the wall while in the axially compressed state such that the plastically deformed and/or heat- set yarns maintain the wall in the accordion-like configuration for use in the accordion-like configuration.

[0013] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can include compressing the wall axially along a longitudinal axis to reduce the as braided length of the wall to between about 1/4 - 1/10 its original length, or greater, prior to plastically deforming and/or heat-setting the wall.

[0014] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include braiding the wall entirely of heat-settable yarns.

[0015] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include braiding the wall entirely of plastically deformable yams.

[0016] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include braiding the wall entirely of heat-settable monofilaments and/or plastically deformable monofilaments.

[0017] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include braiding the wall including heat-settable and/or non-heat-settable multifilaments.

[0018] In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the method can further include heat-setting the wall so that the crests are tightly packed immediately adjacent one another with the intervening valleys having a relatively short axially extending length relative to the length of the individual crests, thereby providing the wall with a significantly increased density relative to the wall as initially braided and prior to being axially compressed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] These and other aspects, features and advantages of the disclosure will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments and best mode, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, in which:

[0020] Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a braided protective textile sleeve constructed in accordance with one aspect of the invention shown protecting an elongate member extending therethrough;

[0021] Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of a wall of the sleeve of Figure 1 ;

[0022] Figure 2A is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view taken generally along line 2A-2A of Figure 1 ;

[0023] Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing the wall being bent into a tight U-shaped without kinking;

[0024] Figures 4A-4C illustrate sequential steps performed to construct a sleeve in accordance with another aspect of the disclosure; and

[0025] Figures 5A-5C illustrate sleeves constructed in accordance with alternate aspects of the disclosure shown prior to being formed having convolute configurations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0026] Referring in more detail to the drawings, Figure 1 illustrates a braided tubular textile sleeve 10 constructed in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. The sleeve 10 has a seamless, flexible, abrasion resistant, single layer, thermally protective tubular wall 12. The wall 12 is braided in seamless fashion, and thus, has a circumferentially continuous, uninterrupted outer surface 14 and an inner surface 16 that defines an inner tubular cavity 18 that extends axially along a central longitudinal axis 20 between opposite ends 22, 24 of the sleeve 10. The cavity 18 is sized for receipt of an elongate member 26 to be protected, such as a wire harness, fluid or gas conveying conduit, cable or the like, there-through. The wall 12 includes yams provided as plastically deformable and/or heat-settable yams, and preferably plastically deformable and/or heat-settable monofilaments 28, that are plastically deformed and/or heat-set upon being braided to provide the wall 12 with an accordion-like, convolute shape. The convolute shape is formed by a plurality of alternating crests (C) and valleys (V), wherein the crests C are formed and permanently maintained, either by being plastically deformed and/or heat-set, to maintain a tight, axially compressed relation with one another, such that adjacent crests C are juxtaposed in close relation, and can be formed abutting or nearly abutting (meaning a slight gap (G, Figure 2A) between adjacent convolutes may exist, with the slight gap G being no greater than about 1/4 the axial width (W, Figure 2A) of a single convolute, and preferably about 1/8 the axial width or less) another. As such, the valleys V intervening between the crests C are relatively narrow in width, which is to say the individual valleys V are short in axially extending length along the axis 20, corresponding to the axially extending length of gap G, relative to the axially extending length W of the individual crests C. Accordingly, the wall 12 is plastically deformed and/or heat-set to retain a greatly increased density across a wall thickness (t, Figure 2A) relative to when it is first braided (Figure 4A), which in turn results in increased protection against abrasion, thermal effects, and impact forces, as well as providing a greatly enhance noise absorption capacity, discussed further hereafter, without need for additional layers. Further, with the wall 12 having an accordion-like, convolute configuration, greatly enhanced flexibility is attained without concern of kinking when routing the sleeve 10 about meandering paths and about sharp bends, corners and the like (Figure 3).

[0027] The wall 14 can be constructed having any suitable length and inner diameter. With the wall 12 providing multiple facets of increased protection, including abrasion resistance, thermal protection, impact resistance, noise absorption, as well as enhanced flexibility, the sleeve 10 is made cost effective given its ability to provide full protection to the elongate member 26 by itself without need additional wall layers or a secondary coating materials beyond that provided by the single layer wall 12. The wall 12 can be braided entirely from the plastically deformable and/or heat-settable monofilaments 28 (Figure 4 A), or a wall 1 12 of a sleeve 1 10 constructed in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure can be braided with plastically deformable and/or heat-settable monofilaments 28 and further include at least some plastically deformable and/or heat-settable multifilaments 29 (Figure 5A, shown prior to be formed into a convolute configuration), or a wall 212 of a sleeve 210 constructed in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure can be braided with plastically deformable and/or heat-settable monofilaments 28 and further include at least some non-plastically deformable and/or non-heat-settable multifilaments 29' (Figure 5B, shown prior to be formed into a convolute configuration), if desired, to provide enhanced coverage and dampening (impermeability to contamination and dampening of noise and vibration) to the wall 12, or the wall 12 can be braided entirely from the plastically deformable and/or heat- settable multifilaments 29 (Figure 5C, shown prior to be formed into a convolute configuration). If non-plastically deformable and/or non-heat-settable multifilaments 29' are incorporated, it is to be recognized that sufficient bias is provided by the plastically deformable and/or heat-settable monofilaments 28 and/or plastically deformable and/or heat-settable multifilaments 29 to form the convolute shape including crests C and valleys V.

[0028] In construction, regardless of the type(s) of filaments used, as discussed above, as shown in Figure 4 A, the wall 12 is braided initially as a straight cylindrical, non-convolute wall 12 (also applies to walls 112, 212, 312) with plastically deformable and/or heat-settable monofilaments 28 and/or plastically deformable and/or heat-settable multifilaments 29, and can further include non-plastically deformable and/or non-heat-settable multifilaments 29', as discussed above. The inner diameter of the wall 12 as initially braided can approximate the inner diameter of the desired finish sleeve 10 (Figure 4C). Upon braiding the wall 12, the wall 12 is disposed on a mandrel 30 (Figure 4B) and compressed axially along the direction of arrows A (it is to be recognized that one end of the wall 12 can remain fixed while the opposite end is compressed, or both ends can be compress toward one another) to produce radially outwardly extending crests C and radially inwardly extending valleys V. The wall 12 can be compressed axially along the longitudinal axis 20 to reduce the initial as braided length of the wall 12 to between about 1/4 - 1/10 its original length, or greater. The inner diameter of the valleys V can approximate that of the inner diameter of the initially braided wall 12 (Figure 4A). As a result of compressing the wall 12, as shown in Figure 4B, the wall 12 takes on an accordion-like configuration. As such, the entirety of the wall 12 does not simply expand in diameter to maintain a cylindrically straight and smooth inner and outer surface as would occur if crests and valleys were not formed, but rather, the wall 12 is formed having expanded diameter regions in the form of the crests C and reduced diameter regions in the form of the valleys V, thereby taking on a convolute configuration. As shown in Figure 4C, upon compressing the sleeve wall 12 axially to form the convolute shape, the wall 12 is either plastically deformed to retain the convolute shaped and/or it is subjected to a suitable heat source, such as a radiant heat source H, to cause the heat-settable yams 28 to take on a resilient heat-set. Upon plastically deforming and/or heat-setting the yams 28, the wall 12 is maintained in the resilient convolute configuration via plastic deformation of the yarns, whether monofilament 28 and/or multifilament 29, and/or via a heat-seat bias of the yarns, whether monofilament 28 and/or multifilament 29, and thus, the wall 12 remains, in resilient fashion, in the accordion-like, convolute configuration (Figures 1 and 2). It is to be recognized that in application, if desired, the wall 12 can be stretched axially against the bias exerted by the wall 12 and then fixed in place about the elongate member 26 to be protected, via any suitable supplemental fastener, including tape, tie-wraps, and the like, and thus, the length of the sleeve 10 is adjustable to accommodate elongate members of different length. It is to be further recognized that the process illustrated in Figures 4A-4C applies to the sleeves 110, 210, 310 illustrated in Figures 5A-5C, though the sleeves 110, 210, 310 are illustrated prior to be formed into their convolute configurations.

[0029] Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is contemplated that all features of all claims and of all embodiments can be combined with each other, so long as such combinations would not contradict one another. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.