Plumbing connectors with negative Poisson's ratio material coating
View Patent ↗An assembly includes an elongated, cylindrical pipe; a plumbing connector attached to an end of the pipe, in which an opening is defined through a length of the plumbing connector; and a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) coating disposed on an interior surface of the plumbing connector that defines the opening, in which the NPR coating on the plumbing connector is configured to exhibit an auxetic behavior in response to application of a force to the NPR coating, in which the end of the pipe is disposed concentrically within the opening of the plumbing connector such that the NPR coating of the plumbing connector contacts an outer surface of the pipe, and in which a portion of the plumbing connector extends beyond the end of the pipe.
1 . An assembly comprising:
a plumbing connector, in which an opening is defined through a length of the plumbing connector; and
a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) coating disposed on an interior surface of the plumbing connector that defines the opening, in which the NPR coating on the plumbing connector is configured to exhibit an auxetic behavior in response to application of a force to the NPR coating, in which the NPR coating comprises a layer of an NPR material and a layer of a material having a positive Poisson's ratio,
in which when the plumbing connector is attached to an end of a pipe, the end of the pipe is disposed concentrically within the opening of the plumbing connector such that the NPR coating of the plumbing connector contacts an outer surface of the pipe, and in which a portion of the plumbing connector extends beyond the end of the pipe.
2 . The assembly of claim 1 , in which the interior surface of the plumbing connector comprises threads for engaging corresponding threads on the end of the pipe.
3 . The assembly of claim 1 , in which the NPR coating of the plumbing connector comprises an NPR polymer material.
4 . The assembly of claim 1 , in which the NPR coating of the plumbing connector comprises an NPR fluoropolymer.
5 . The assembly of claim 4 , in which the NPR coating of the plumbing connector comprises NPR polytetrafluoroethylene.
6 . The assembly of claim 1 , in which the NPR coating covers the entire interior surface of the plumbing connector.
7 . The assembly of claim 1 , in which the NPR coating is disposed on at least a portion of an exterior surface of the connector.
8 . The assembly of claim 1 , in which the NPR coating conformally coats the interior surface of the plumbing connector.
9 . The assembly of claim 1 , in which a body of the plumbing connector comprises a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) material.
10 . The assembly of claim 9 , in which the body of the plumbing connector comprises one or more of an NPR metal foam, an NPR polymer foam, or an NPR ceramic foam.
11 . The assembly of claim 1 , comprising the pipe, in which the pipe comprises a flexible hose.
12 . The assembly of claim 1 , comprising the pipe, in which the pipe comprises a metal pipe, a polyvinylchloride (PVC) pipe, or a crosslinked polyethylene (PEX) pipe.