CABLE UNIT

Abstract

A cable unit is provided comprising: a jacket comprising at least one cable housing and at least one support housing; the or each cable housing having a tubular structure, extending in a longitudinal direction, each support housing in the plurality of support housings having a tubular structure, extending in the longitudinal direction, wherein the at least one support housing being disposed on one side of the at least one cable housing; and at least one support element retained within each support housing of the plurality of support housings, wherein the at least one support element retained within each support housing of the plurality of support housings comprises at least one portion that has an arcuate cross section in the width direction.

Claims

1. A cable unit, characterised in that the cable unit comprises: a jacket comprising at least one cable housing and at least one support housing; the or each cable housing having a tubular structure, extending in a longitudinal direction, each support housing in the plurality of support housings having a tubular structure, extending in the longitudinal direction, wherein the at least one support housing being disposed on one side of the at least one cable housing; and at least one support element retained within each support housing of the plurality of support housings, wherein the at least one support element retained within each support housing of the plurality of support housings comprises at least one portion that has an arcuate cross section in the width direction.

2. The cable unit of claim 1, wherein the jacket comprises at least two support housings and at least one support housing is disposed on each side of the at least one cable housing in a width direction and disposed in parallel to each other.

3. The cable unit of claim 1, wherein at least one cable is retained within the or each cable housing.

4. The cable unit of claim 1, wherein each support housing within the plurality of support housings comprises an internal cavity within which the at least one support element is retained, the internal cavity extending further in the width direction than the width of the at least one portion having an arcuate cross section of the at least one support element retained therein.

5. The cable unit of claim 1, wherein each of the at least one support element extends along substantially the length of the support housing within which it is retained in the longitudinal direction.

6. The cable unit of claim 1, wherein each at least one support element comprises a material selected from the group consisting of: metallic materials selected from ferrous materials such as iron, steel or another alloy thereof, copper, aluminium, titanium, or alloys thereof; ceramic; rubber, plastic or reinforced ceramic, rubber or plastic.

7. The cable unit of claim 6, wherein the material is steel.

8. The cable unit of claim 1, wherein each support housing retains at least two support elements.

9. The cable unit of claim 8, wherein the at least two support elements at least partially overlap within the support housing.

10. The cable unit of claim 1 comprising a plurality of cable unit layers, each cable unit layer comprising a cable unit jacket, wherein the jacket of at least one of the cable unit layers within the plurality of cable unit layers comprises a cable housing and the jacket of at least one of the cable unit layers within the plurality of cable unit layers comprises a support housing.

11. The cable unit of claim 10, wherein the jacket of at least a first cable unit layer and a second cable unit layer within the plurality of cable unit layers comprise at least one support housing and support elements retained within the at least one support housing of the first cable unit layer may be oriented opposed to that of the support elements retained within the at least one support housing of the second cable unit layer.

12. The cable unit of claim 11, wherein the support elements are arcuate and the direction of curvature of the support elements of the first cable unit layer is opposed to the direction of curvature of the support elements of the second cable unit layer.

13. The cable unit of claim 10, wherein an intermediate layer is provided between each adjacent cable unit layer.

14. The cable unit of claim 1, wherein a low friction layer is provided between adjacent support elements within at least one support housing.

15. The cable unit of claim 14, wherein the low friction layer comprises expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE), a polyimide, or ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW PE).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0061] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0062] FIG. 1: A view of a cross section of a cable unit according to an embodiment;

[0063] FIG. 2: A side view of a cable unit according to an embodiment;

[0064] FIG. 3: A view of a cross section of the cable unit shown in FIG. 2;

[0065] FIG. 4: A view of a cross section of a support element;

[0066] FIG. 5: A side view of a cable unit according to an embodiment;

[0067] FIG. 6: A view of a cross section of the cable unit shown in FIG. 5;

[0068] FIG. 7: A side view of a cable unit according to an embodiment;

[0069] FIG. 8: A view of a cross section of the cable unit shown in FIG. 7;

[0070] FIG. 9: A photograph of two cable units according to the embodiment of FIG. 7;

[0071] FIG. 10: A side view of a cable unit according to an embodiment;

[0072] FIG. 11: A view of a cross section of the cable unit shown in FIG. 10;

[0073] FIG. 12: A photograph of a cable units according to the embodiment of FIG. 10;

[0074] FIG. 13: A side view of a cable unit according to an embodiment;

[0075] FIGS. 14A-14C: The shape of the cross section of a support element of the cable unit of FIG. 13A) far from the bend, B) close to the bend and C) in the bend;

[0076] FIG. 15: A side view of a cable unit according to an embodiment;

[0077] FIG. 16: A view of a cross section E-E of the cable unit shown in FIG. 15;

[0078] FIG. 17: A view of a cross section of a support housing according to an embodiment; and

[0079] FIG. 18: A view of a cross section of a support housing according to an embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0080] While the making and using of various embodiments of the present invention are discussed in detail below, it should be appreciated that the present invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that can be embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specific embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific ways to make and use the invention and do not delimit the scope of the invention.

[0081] To facilitate the understanding of this invention, a number of terms are defined below. Terms defined herein have meanings as commonly understood by a person of ordinary skill in the areas relevant to the present invention. Terms such as “a”, “an” and “the” are not intended to refer to only a singular entity, but include the general class of which a specific example may be used for illustration. The terminology herein is used to describe specific embodiments of the invention, but their usage does not delimit the invention, except as outlined in the claims.

[0082] In addition, in the entire specification, when one part is referred to as being ‘connected’ to another part, it should be understood that the former can be ‘directly connected’ to the latter, or ‘indirectly connected’ to the latter via an intervening part. Also, to ‘include’ a constituent element means that it may further include other elements, rather than excluding other elements, unless specifically stated otherwise.

Example 1

[0083] With reference to FIG. 1, a cable unit 1 comprises a jacket 2 forming two support element housings 4 and two cable housings 6. The jacket 2 is made by two sheets of polyurethane with a PTFE coating where the two sheets are welded to form the support element housings 4 and the cable housings 6 such that the PTFE coating is provided on the inside of the support element housings 4 and the cable housings 6. The two support element housings 4 are arranged either side of the two cable housings 6 in a width direction, and the cross-section of the cable unit 1 is shown in FIG. 1. Each of the two support element housings 4 retain a single support element 8 that each have an arcuate cross-section. Cables and/or tubes may be inserted into the cable housings and the cable unit including the cables and/or tubes may then be used to connect a stationary unit and a moving unit.

Example 2

[0084] With reference to FIG. 2, a cable unit 1 comprises a jacket 2 formed as described for Example 1, two support element housings 4 and two cable housings 6. The two support element housings 4 are arranged either side of the two cable housings 6 in a width direction, and the cross-section of the cable unit 1 at the point indicated as A-A in FIG. 2 is shown in FIG. 3. Each of the two support element housings 4 retain a single support element 8 that each have an arcuate cross-section. Each of the two cable housings 6 retains a cable 9.

[0085] The cable unit 1 extends between a stationary unit 10 and a moving unit 12. During use, the moving unit 12 reciprocates along a linear path (the direction of the linear path being indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 2) and the stationary unit 10 is positioned adjacent to the midpoint of that linear path. In the snapshot shown in FIG. 2, the cable unit 1 extends along a supporting surface 14 to which the stationary unit 10 is fixed and bends over itself to extend back over the stationary unit 10 to the moving unit 12 to form a first linear portion 16, a bend 18 and a second self-supporting linear portion 20. The bend 18 of the cable unit 1 has a radius of curvature of approximately 25 mm and as the moving unit 12 reciprocates along the linear path the position of the bend 18 also reciprocates along the supporting surface 14, the first linear portion 16 and the second self-supporting linear portion 20 extending and retracting in length accordingly.

[0086] The curve of the two support elements 8 in the second self-supporting linear portion 20 faces toward the first linear portion 16.

[0087] The jacket 2 comprises a PTFE sheet shaped to form the support element housings 4 and the cable housings 6.

[0088] The support elements 8 are each formed from an elongate steel plate bent along the length of the steel plate such that they have an arcuate cross-section. The support elements 8 further comprise a coating 24 to protect the steel 22 from rusting and an outer layer 26 (see FIG. 4).

Example 3

[0089] With reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, a cable unit 40 comprises a jacket 42 formed as described above for Example 1, two support element housings 44 and two cable housings 46. The two support element housings 44 are arranged either side of the two cable housings 46 in a width direction, and the cross-section of the cable unit 40 at the point indicated as B-B in FIG. 5 is shown in FIG. 6. Each of the two support element housings 44 retain two support elements 48 that each have an arcuate cross-section. Each of the cable housings 46 comprise cables 49.

[0090] The cable unit 40 extends between a stationary unit 50 and a moving unit 52. During use, the moving unit 52 reciprocates along a linear path (the direction of the linear path being indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 5) and the stationary unit 50 is positioned adjacent to the midpoint of that linear path. In the snapshot shown in FIG. 5, the cable unit 40 extends along a supporting surface 54 to which the stationary unit 50 is fixed and bends over itself to extend back over the stationary unit 50 to the moving unit 52 to form a first linear portion 56, a bend 58 and a second self-supporting linear portion 60. The bend 58 of the cable unit 40 has a radius of curvature of approximately 25 mm and as the moving unit 52 reciprocates along the linear path the position of the bend 58 also reciprocates along the supporting surface 54, the first linear portion 56 and the second self-supporting linear portion 60 extending and retracting in length accordingly.

[0091] The supporting elements 48 and the jacket are as per Example 2.

[0092] The cables 49 provide an electrical connection between the stationary unit 50 and the moving unit 52 such that electrical power may be transmitted from the stationary unit 50 to the moving unit 52.

Example 4

[0093] With reference to FIGS. 7-9, system 80 comprises a cable unit 82, a stationary unit 84, and a moving unit 86. The cable unit 82 comprises a jacket 88 defining a cable housing 90 and a support housing 92 (acting as a support element housing) provided either side of the cable housing 90. The cable unit 82 extends between the stationary unit 84 and the moving unit 86.

[0094] The cable housing 90 retains a cable block 94. The cable block 94 comprises cables 96 and the cable block 94 maintains the separation between the cables 96.

[0095] The support housings 92 comprise two support elements 98 stacked upon one another.

[0096] The jacket 88 comprises PTFE resin sheets connected together to form the cable housing 90 and support housing 92.

[0097] The stationary unit 84 anchors the cable unit to a support 100 and includes a pin 102 that fixes the cable unit to the support 100.

[0098] A cross-section of the point C-C of the cable unit of FIG. 7 is shown in FIG. 8.

[0099] A perspective view of this embodiment is shown in FIG. 9.

Example 5

[0100] A further example of a cable unit is shown in FIGS. 10-12. The cable unit 120 comprises two support housings 122 and three cable housings 124, the support housings 122 interleaved between the cable housings 124. The support housings 122 retain three support elements 126, and the cable housings 124 retain cables 128.

[0101] The cable unit 120 is provided within a system 130. The cable unit 120 extends between a hub 132 (acting as a stationary unit) and a mobile unit 134 (acting as a moving unit).

[0102] The hub 132 anchors the cable unit 120 to a support 136.

[0103] A cross-section of the point D-D of the cable unit of FIG. 10 is shown in FIG. 11.

Example 6

[0104] The arcuate cross-section of the support elements described in the above examples typically change shape depending on the degree of bend applied to the support elements. Specifically, the radius of curvature of the arcuate cross-section increases as the amount of bend applied to the support element increases.

[0105] For example, referring to FIG. 13 the radius of curvature of the support elements 48 of Example 3 retained within the support housings of a cable unit changes from the radius of curvature of the unstressed, unbent arcuate cross-section at point A (cross-section shown in FIG. 14A), adjacent to a bend (cross-section shown in FIG. 14B) and within the bend itself (cross-section shown in FIG. 14C).

Example 7

[0106] A further example of a cable unit is shown in FIGS. 15 and 16. The cable unit 200 comprises a first layer 202 and a second layer 204. The first layer 202 comprises two support housings 206. The second layer 204 comprises a support housing 208 positioned between two cable housings 210. The cable housings 210 retain cables (for example 230 and 232). The support housings 206 of the first layer 202 retain five support elements 212 and the support housing 208 of the second layer 204 retain three support elements 214. The support elements 212 are curved away from the second layer 204. The support elements 214 are curved away from the first layer. Accordingly, the support elements 212 of the first layer 202 are oriented opposed to the support elements 214 of the second layer 204.

[0107] The cable unit 200 is provided within a system 220. The cable unit 200 extends between a hub 222 (acting as a stationary unit) and a mobile unit 224 (acting as a moving unit). The hub 222 anchors the cable unit 200 to a support 226.

[0108] A cross-section of the point E-E of the cable unit of FIG. 15 is shown in FIG. 16.

[0109] The first layer 202 had a radius of curvature in a curved section of 32 mm and the second layer 204 had a radius of curvature in a curved section of 22.5 mm.

[0110] Accordingly, the provision of a cable unit having a first layer 202 and a second layer 204 achieved a smaller radius of curvature than would otherwise be possible with a single layer with similar materials.

Example 8

[0111] A further example of a support housing that can be used in the cable units of examples 1-7 is shown in FIG. 17. The support housing 300 retains a first support element 302, a second support element 304 and a third support element 306. The first support element 302 has a low friction layer 308 on the side facing the second support element 304. The second support element 304 has a low friction layer 310 on a first side facing the first support element 302 and a low friction layer 312 on a second side facing the third support element 306. The third support element 306 has a low friction layer 314 on a first side facing the second support element 304. The low friction layers 308, 310, 312, 314 comprises PTFE.

Example 9

[0112] A further example of a support housing that can be used in the cable units of examples 1-7 is shown in FIG. 18. The support housing 320 retains a first support element 322, a second support element 324 and a third support element 326. The first support element 322 has a low friction layer 328 on the side facing the second support element 324. The second support element 324 has a low friction layer 330 on a first side facing the third support element 326. The low friction layers 328, 330 comprises PTFE.

[0113] Accordingly, in both Example 8 and Example 9 a low friction surface is provided between adjacent support elements to ensure that they are free or freer to move past one another during use.

[0114] While there has been hereinbefore described approved embodiments of the present invention, it will be readily apparent that many and various changes and modifications in form, design, structure and arrangement of parts may be made for other embodiments without departing from the invention and it will be understood that all such changes and modifications are contemplated as embodiments as a part of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.