KR20070037633A - Insulation way - Google Patents

Abstract

Insulation of a vehicle, including providing a vehicle (eg, a car, truck, train, boat, ship, or aircraft) with an insulation system comprising a plurality of location-compatible insulation articles of substantially the same size and shape. The method is disclosed.

Insulation, Soundproofing, Insulation Systems, Insulation Goods, Means of Transport

Description

Insulation Process {Insulation Process}

Priority statement

This application is incorporated by reference in U.S. Pat. Claims priority of provisional application 60 / 584,584 filed on July 1, 2004.

The present invention relates to a method of providing insulation and / or sound insulation in a vehicle, such as an aircraft.

Insulation and / or sound insulation are widely used in a variety of applications. Such insulation provides enhanced comfort and improved efficiency (e.g., air conditioning and soundproofing vehicles) for conventional transportation applications, and the proper operation of other vehicles (e.g. temperature changes in high-flying aircraft). Decisive).

Insulation materials installed in many vehicles today must meet very stringent insulation and sound insulation requirements. As a result, insulating materials are often packed tightly around many objects in limited areas to ensure maximum insulation. Insulation should also be performed under a wide range of environmental conditions. These requirements are particularly stringent in the design of aircraft that regularly undergo significant noticeable temperature, pressure and humidity changes.

Complicating the method of insulation of vehicles is the fact that their shells often contain many obstacles (eg pipes, horizontals, pipes and structural ribs) in which the insulating material has to be mounted around them. The insulation also needs to be removable to allow for inspection, maintenance and repair (e.g., check for corrosion and other problems). As such, in order to accommodate and easily remove obstructions, the insulating material is custom cut to a predetermined size and fitted with a custom cover, generally in the aircraft industry, to form a custom insulating blanket.

This manufacturing method is very labor intensive and slow, and the manufactured custom blankets (“custom parts”) typically have to be assigned a separate part number which requires tracking during fabrication and storage. Upon insulation of the vehicle, the custom part must then conform to a position in the vehicle, the size and shape of which corresponds to the custom part. Because typical large jet airliners can have, for example, more than 1300 pieces of insulation material of different sizes and / or different shapes, the cost of such customization and accompanying tracking is significant.

summary

As such, the inventors can easily build and install (e.g., without the need for a tracking system to match a customized item to a specific location within the vehicle), and (e.g., repair or replace and / or transport an item). It has been recognized that there is a need for a vehicle insulation method (especially an aircraft insulation method) that uses an insulation article that can be easily removed from the vehicle to enable means maintenance or repair.

Briefly, in one aspect, the present invention provides the above method comprising providing an transportation system with an insulation system comprising a plurality of position-compatible insulation articles having substantially the same size and shape. The vehicle can be, for example, an automobile, a truck, a train, a boat, a ship or an aircraft (preferably an aircraft, more preferably a commercial aircraft, most preferably a commercial jet with at least about 100 passengers).

"Position-compatible" as used herein means that an insulating article can be used in more than one location within a vehicle and is not sized or shaped to conform to a surface (or space) having a particular size and shape. do. Rather, the article may be of a standard size and shape such that multiple (ie, two or more) articles can be used to collectively cover (or fill space) surfaces of various shapes and sizes (instead of a single, large, custom article). will be. The articles are “substantially identical” in size and shape (ie, they are sufficiently identical in size and shape according to typical fabrication tolerances so that they can be replaced with each other to practice the method of the present invention).

The insulation system may further include other components (eg, a limited number of other standard shapes and / or sizes of insulation articles). If the vehicle is an aircraft, the insulation system is preferably provided at least on most of the inner surface of the aircraft envelope or at least on most of the outer surface of the aircraft interior compartment. Alternatively, one or more inner panels of the aircraft may include a number of articles.

By means of a vehicle building system and method using a " building block " approach used to build a larger pattern having a shape corresponding to the various spaces in which a plurality of insulating articles of a single standard form and size are to be installed. It has been found that it can be simplified. This eliminates the need for many custom insulated articles, as well as the need for expensive and time consuming tracking systems for article fabrication, storage and installation.

In addition, because the insulating articles are of standard shape and size, they may be readily available to meet insulation repair and / or replacement needs. The article may maintain the removability of the custom article, and therefore, at least some embodiments of the method of the present invention meet the need for a more cost effective vehicle insulation method that enables both easy installation and easy removal.

Insulation article

Insulation articles that can be used to perform the methods of the present invention include any materials (eg, fiberglass) and / or articles (eg, insulation blankets) that can be used to provide insulation and / or sound insulation. Include. The insulation article may include, for example, fibrous insulation, foam insulation, vacuum substrate insulation, glass bubble substrate insulation, or a combination thereof. Preferably, the insulating article comprises a fibrous insulating material, a vacuum base insulating material or a combination thereof (more preferably, the article comprises a vacuum base insulating material).

The material can be prepared by known methods. Suitable fibrous materials include, for example, melt blown fibers including fiberglass and polypropylene available from 3M Company (St. Paul, Minn.) Under the tradename THINSULATE. The fibrous insulation may be provided in the form of a lofty nonwoven layer or mat in which the fibers are entangled or bonded to each other. The mat may be manufactured according to conventional techniques such as melt blowing, air laying or carding. The mat is made of thermally bonded fibers and exposed to heat to soften the thermally bonded fibers and allow at least some of the fibers to bond together.

Examples of useful lofty nonwoven mats are described in U.S. Pat. Patent 4,837,067 to Carey et al. As described above, the mat consists of a combination of entangled staple fibers and binding staple fibers, wherein the binding fibers comprise, for example, a core of polyethylene terephthalate surrounded by a sheath of an adhesive polymer formed of isophthalate and terephthalate esters. Have

For example, U.S. Pat. Other known insulating structures can be used, including the insulating sheet material described in patent 4,136,222 (Jonnes).

The insulating article used in the method of the invention may be in the form of a panel or mat or batt of insulating material, or alternatively the article may be substantially or even sufficiently protective layer or even a protective case or bag (eg For example, including a polymer film). The layer and / or bag can be either flexible, semi-rigid or rigid. The insulating material may optionally be treated (eg, with a silicone or fluorochemical or polymer melt additive as a topical treatment) to increase its hydrophobicity.

The insulating article may include one or more layers of insulating material. It may also include other materials and layers commonly found in insulating blankets. For example, the article may comprise one or more high temperature resistant materials (including, for example, materials that are resistant to flame propagation and / or flame penetration), one or more adhesive compositions or films, one or more scrims (eg, fabrics or Nonwoven or reticulated fabric), one or more water repellent coatings, one or more intumescent additives or coatings, one or more reflective films (eg, to control radiant energy), and one or more polymer films (optionally metallized) And flame retardants, antistatic agents, antifoam agents, and the like.

The insulating articles described above can be made by known methods and can further include one or more attachment devices for use in attaching the articles to one another and / or to a vehicle. Useful attachment devices include adhesives (eg, pressure sensitive adhesives or non-adhesive adhesives), reclosable fasteners (eg, hook and loop fasteners), mechanical interlocks (eg, tongues and grooves, buttons And button holes, snap and shaped "puzzled" edges or structures), clips, pins, and the like, and combinations thereof. The attachment device is preferably an integral part of the article, but if desired a detachable attachment device may be used.

The article may be of any shape and size to facilitate the coating of the vehicle surface. Representative examples of useful forms of articles are spherical articles, and "two-dimensional" panels or sheets, or, for example, square (six sides), rectangular (six sides), triangles (five sides), hexagons (eight sides), octagons (Face 10), a thicker aspect (three-dimensional "stereo"), such as a donut shape and the like. The particular shape and size of the article selected for carrying out the method of the invention will vary depending, for example, on the size of the vehicle and its surface configuration. However, rectangular forms (rectangular solids) are often desirable due to their versatility.

Insulation system and method

While the method of the present invention utilizes the main insulating articles (or "building blocks") described above in a single shape and size to build an insulation and sound insulation system, useful insulation systems further include other components, such as a limited number of other standards. And incidental insulating articles of type or size. For example, a large open area of a vehicle (preferably an aircraft) can be insulated using a major insulating article and a smaller area can be insulated using a smaller incidental article. The shape may be selected such that the optimal packing geometry is mounted around the surface protrusion with or without a minimum gap.

Preferably, the secondary insulating article is of the same type (different in size only) as the main insulating article. The incidental insulation articles may be in different forms, but the insulation system is generally up to about 100 different forms (preferably up to about 50, more preferably up to about 20, most preferably up to about 10) It contains. The insulation articles of each particular form may vary in size, but the size of each of the different forms generally does not exceed about 100 (preferably about 50 or less, more preferably about 20 or less) Most preferably about 10 or less).

The insulation article may be provided to the vehicle by any desired method (eg, by bringing the article into or on the vehicle or one or more components thereof by placement, application, or attachment). As such, the insulation articles may be attached to the vehicle and / or attached to each other to form an insulation system. This can be accomplished using any attachment device that can be used with the vehicle and materials including insulating articles. For example, the insulating article only adheres to itself and may be coated with a first adhesive that pulls off. Such adhesives generally cannot actively bind dust or other contaminants. A second adhesive can be used to attach the insulating article to the vehicle surface. Alternatively, mechanical or reclosable fastener systems may be used to attach the articles to each other, and adhesive may be used to attach the articles to the vehicle surface.

If the insulating article is in the form of a panel or sheet, they can be laid in an overlapping method similar to how a shingle is laid. This overlap reduces the leakage of heat and sound at the connections between the insulating articles and can increase the insulation of the system. This approach can facilitate installation in confined spaces and allow desirable thermal and acoustical properties to be achieved in the space. For such systems, adhesives may be used on one side of the panel or sheet for attachment to both the vehicle surface and other panels or sheets. Mechanical or reclosable fasteners may also be used to keep each sheet under one.

In addition to the above methods, many other possible ways of providing the goods to the vehicle can be devised by those skilled in the art. The insulation method of the present invention provides an insulation system between (i) the interior surface of the aircraft envelope and (ii) the exterior surface of the interior compartment of the aircraft (including the underside of the cabin floor) and in any area comprising them (eg, Application or attachment), which is particularly useful for aircraft insulation. The insulating article may be designed with sufficient flexibility to push around the irregular shape of the aircraft surface or may simply be positioned to allow wire penetration or the like. To insulate the aircraft frame, the insulation article may be designed to be rigid but sufficiently elastic so that they fit into position over the frame. The insulating article may insulate the frame and may also provide an attachment site for the rest of the insulation system.

The objects and advantages of the present invention are further illustrated by the following examples, but the specific materials and amounts thereof recited in these examples, as well as other conditions and details, should not be construed as excessively limiting the present invention. .

Insulation article

Fiberglass insulation articles

Fiberglass insulation materials in the form of Orcotek ^™ strip blankets (fiberglass batting with insulated cover films, available from Orcon Corporation, Union City, CA, USA) have been used to make fiberglass insulation articles. The dimensions of each article were marked on the top surface of the insulating cover film of the Orcotec ^™ strip blanket and then cut. The cut edges were then sealed using Orcotape ^™ OT-54W (pressure sensitive adhesive, reinforced metallized polyvinyl fluoride tape, Orcon Corporation, available from Union City, Calif.) A fiberglass insulation article was provided.

Vacuum Base Insulation Articles

The vacuum substrate insulation article is encased in a Mylar ^™ SBL barrier film (multilayer polyester base film with metallized coating and heat sealable layer, DuPont Dayjin Films ^TM (available from Hopewell, VA)) The core of the INSTILL foam (microcell open cell polystyrene foam, available from Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Mich.) Was prepared by vacuum sealing. A vacuum chamber with a vacuum of approximately 0.05 Torr, equipped with heat sealing means, was used for this purpose. Desiccant was incorporated into each individual article.

Attachment

Various attachment devices have been used to attach insulating articles to vehicles to be insulated:

With hook  Loop

3M ^TM Scotch mate (Scotchmate) ^TM hook and loop material sealed fastener (e.g., 3M ^TM Scotch mate ^TM re-closed type fastener SJ3530 (hook) and 3M ^TM Scotch mate ^TM re-closed type fastener SJ3531 (loop), 3M Company (Minnesota Available from St. Paul). The hook or loop system was attached to the insulating article by using stitching or pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA). The corresponding (or matching) loop or hook was attached to the vehicle using a PSA.

Pressure sensitive adhesive

Natural rubber based adhesives, synthetic rubber based adhesives and acrylic based adhesives including 3M ^™ adhesive transition tape 468MP (including acrylic adhesives, available from 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn.) Were used.

The following examples were performed using each possible combination of the various insulating articles and attachment devices described above.

Example  One

Means of transport insulation using border insulation articles

An insulating article having a rectangular geometry was provided in the area of the vehicle 3m long by 1m wide. Insulation articles were placed in an adjacent arrangement in a single layer without overlap. The thickness of the insulating article was chosen to meet the performance requirements of the intended use.

The rectangular insulated article was of three different sizes measured in 1 m length x 1 m width, 1 m length x 0.5 m width, and 0.5 m length x 0.5 m width. As such, the region was insulated by attaching 3, 6 or 12 insulating articles to the region, respectively, using an attachment device. Combinations of insulating articles of different sizes were used to insulate adjacent areas of the same dimensions (3m long × 1m wide).

Example  2

Means of transport insulation using overlapping insulation articles

Example 1 was repeated, with the insulation article deformed so as to be placed in an overlapping configuration (ie, a “furnace” relationship similar to the laying of shingles). The attachment device was used to attach the insulation article to the vehicle and / or other insulation article to be insulated.

References included in patents, patent documents, and publications cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety, as if each were individually cited. Various unpredictable modifications and variations of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. The present invention is not intended to be overly limited by the exemplary embodiments and examples described herein, which are presented by way of example, and the scope of the invention being set forth herein as follows. It is intended to be limited only by the scope of

Claims (18)

Providing the vehicle with an insulation system comprising a plurality of position-compatible insulation articles substantially the same size and shape. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is selected from the group consisting of automobiles, trucks, trains, boats, ships, and aircrafts. The method of claim 1 wherein the vehicle is an aircraft. The method of claim 1, wherein the insulation system further comprises one or more insulation articles that are different in shape and / or size from the position-compatible insulation article. The method of claim 1, wherein the insulation system further comprises one or more insulation articles that differ in size but do not differ in shape from the position-compatible insulation article. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the insulating article is provided at least on most of the interior surface of the aircraft envelope or at least on most of the exterior surface of the aircraft interior compartment. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein at least one inner panel of the aircraft comprises a plurality of said insulating articles. The method of claim 1 wherein the insulating article has a rectangular shape. The method of claim 1 wherein the insulation article comprises a material selected from the group consisting of fibrous insulation, foam insulation, vacuum substrate insulation, glass bubble substrate insulation, and combinations thereof. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the material is selected from fibrous insulation, vacuum substrate insulation, and combinations thereof. The method of claim 10, wherein the material is a vacuum substrate insulating material. The method of claim 1 wherein the insulating article is an insulating blanket. The method of claim 1, wherein the insulating article further comprises one or more attachment devices. The method of claim 13, wherein the attachment device is selected from the group consisting of adhesives, reclosable fasteners, mechanical interlocks, clips, pins, and combinations thereof. The method of claim 13, wherein the attachment device is an integral part of the insulating article. Providing an aircraft with an insulation system comprising a plurality of position-compatible insulation articles substantially the same size and shape, Wherein the article is rectangular in shape and includes one or more attachment devices that are a vacuum substrate insulation and an integral part of the article. The method of claim 16, wherein the aircraft is a commercial aircraft. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the commercial aircraft is a commercial jet having at least about 100 passengers.