Flexible cable with increased life span, and a method for producing a flexible cable
AssigneeCabin Air Group B.V.
InventorRinze Jan Van Der Schuit
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flexible cable 1 is produced by endless winding of at least one yarn 6 around two thimbles 2, 4. The yarn 6 comprises aramid or similar fibres. Each thimble 2, 4 holds a stack 9 of a plurality of layers 10 of turns of the yarn 6. The cable 1 comprises a resin 12 which is provided at at least one of the first and second thimble only, for mutually connecting the layers of turns of the yarn and to retain a tangential orientation of the respective yarn layers 10 with respect to each other when the flexible endless winding cable is subject to a load. The cable has optional carbon fibre sheets 18, 20 between preselected yarn layers at the thimbles.
Claims21
A flexible endless winding cable, comprising:
- a first thimble and a second thimble, and at least one yarn, wherein
- the yarn comprises high modulus synthetic or natural fibers with Young's modulus of at least 55 GPa as determined by ASTM D7269,
- the first thimble and the second thimble are provided at opposite ends of the cable,
- the at least one yarn extends from the first thimble to the second thimble, turns around the second thimble, extends from the second thimble to the first thimble, and turns around the first thimble, such that the yarn forms turns around the first and second thimbles, and each thimble holds a stack of a plurality of layers of turns of the yarn, and
- an adhesive is provided at at least one of the first and second thimble only and mutually connects at least two of the plurality of layers of turns of the yarn in the stack of the respective first or second thimble to retain a tangential orientation of the respective yarn layers with respect to each other when the flexible endless winding cable is subject to a load.
A method for producing a flexible endless winding cable, comprising the steps of:
- positioning a first thimble and a second thimble at a predetermined distance from one another, which distance corresponds to a required cable length,
- providing at least one yarn, which yarn comprises high modulus synthetic or natural fibers with Young's modulus of at least 55 GPa as determined by ASTM D7269,
- winding the at least one yarn from the first thimble to the second thimble, a half turn around the second thimble, back to the first thimble, and a half turn around the first thimble,
- repeating the previous step until a predetermined number of layers of yarn turns is provided in both the first thimble and the second thimble, corresponding to a required cable thickness,
- applying an adhesive to the layers of yarn turns in at least one of the thimbles, and
- curing the adhesive to connect at least two of the layers of yarn turns so that the layers of yarn turns in at least one of the thimbles retain a tangential orientation with respect to each other when the flexible endless winding cable is subject to a load, and so that the flexible endless winding cable remains flexible between the first thimble and the second thimble.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.