TENT WITH INFLATABLE STRUCTURE

Abstract

Tent with inflatable structure including an outer cover (1) and a floor portion (2), where the inflatable structure includes at least one beam made of standard fire hose (3) or other industrial seamless hose (3) having outer textile braiding. The hose (3) is at each of its ends closed by a plug (4), of which at least one includes air inlet/outlet element (5), and at least one end of the hose (3) is fixed to and/or leant against the outer cover (1) of the tent and/or the floor portion (2) of the tent.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

Technical solution relates to tents with inflatable structure, in particular tents of technical textiles such as work, rescue, military, humanitarian and other special-purpose tents.

BACKGROUND ART

Tents normally contain supporting structure, beams, made of rigid material. Because tents are mostly intended for temporary use only, in such case their transportation, as well as the time for erecting them is problematic. To remedy these deficiencies, there are known solutions of tent structures with inflatable tube, which are either continuously air blown, or airtight.

The problem with the continuously air blown tubes is low working pressure (ca 1 kPa) and big diameter of the tubes thus related, as well as the need of continuous blowing of air.

Working pressure in airtight tubes is normally 15 to 40 kPa, what helps to significantly reduce the diameter of tubes. However, due to their design the higher pressure is undesired (destructive) and therefore it is necessary to equip such beams with pressure-relief valves. It is common, on sunny days, that the increased pressure resulting from the increase in air volume is compensated by pressure-relief valves. However, such released air is then missing during cooler night hours and the tent, in particular its supporting structure, collapses.

Seamless tubes with higher working pressure without a need for the pressure compensation by pressure-relief valves seems as the most convenient. Solutions applying mentioned principle are already available on the market, but employed beams are usually tailor made by special technologies, what excessively raises total cost of the tent.

It would be advantageous to use, as beams, available existing elements capable of withstanding the high working pressure. Such the elements appear to be e.g. fire hoses, which are normally available. Use of the fire hoses as a roof construction support is disclosed in EP 0810339. This solution allows for formation of temporary roofing by means of the structure which comprises inflatable beams, advantageously formed of the fire hoses. These hoses are at their ends connected to rigid supporting elements arranged in a row. When creating the cover for an area, rigid supporting elements are placed along the sides of the area to be covered, whereas these elements also serve as an air supply duct for the said hoses. The hoses are connected with their respective ends to these supporting elements, which after inflating thus form an arc, a series of arches respectively, between said supporting elements. A cover sheet is then fixed upon the series of arches. This solution provides arched cover opened at the ends (a tunnel); however, due to the system of supporting elements it is not suitable for tent structures.

The objective of this technical solution is a tent with inflatable structure exploiting advantages of the use of standard fire hoses or other industrial seamless hoses having outer textile braiding and inner airtight lining as inflatable elements of the supporting structure, while maintaining the tent structure simplicity, in particular regarding the erecting as well as dismantling a tent.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

Said objective is achieved with a tent with inflatable structure according to this technical solution, which comprises an outer cover and a floor portion, characterized in that, the inflatable structure comprises at least one beam made of standard fire hose or other industrial seamless hose having outer textile braiding, whereas the hose is at each of its ends closed by a plug, of which at least one comprises air inlet/outlet element, and at least one end of the hose is fixed to and/or leant against the outer cover of the tent and/or the floor portion of the tent.

It is possible to arrange the hoses inside the tent in all directions (longitudinal, transversal also diagonal) according to a predefined design of the outer cover and the floor portion. In the case of mutual crossing of the hoses, the hoses can be divided to proportional, shorter segments and related ends of the hoses, plugs at related ends of the hoses respectively, can be connected to a joining element, or it is possible to let the hoses cross freely.

It is advantageous if air inlet/outlet elements are placed on the bottom or side wall of the hose plug. Air inlet/outlet elements can be provided as separate air inlet element and separate air outlet element, but these elements can also be provided in one.

The basis of the technical solution is in other words adaptation of standard fire hoses or other industrial seamless hoses having outer textile braiding and inner airtight lining to the form of a tent. Given that the tent cover and the floor portion generally form one unit, or the hose ends are fixed to the floor portion, the hose, when inflated, takes arched shape, in particular it takes the shape according to the shape predefined by the design of the outer cover and the floor portion.

Exploitation of standard fire hoses or other industrial seamless hoses having outer textile braiding and inner airtight lining allows to apply higher working pressure without a need for pressure compensation by means of pressure-relief valves. The shape and overall size of the supporting structure of the tent is thus defined and remains unchanged also during pressure fluctuations caused by changes in ambient temperature or pressure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Technical solution is explained in greater detail in the accompanying drawings, where

FIG. 1—schematically shows overall front view of the inflated hose, closed at its ends by the plugs, being the beam of the tent with inflatable structure according to the technical solution;

FIG. 2—schematically shows detail of FIG. 1 of one end of the hose with the plug;

FIG. 3—schematically shows the view of the tent with inflatable structure according to the technical solution with the hoses being the beams arranged in a row, tunnel tent;

FIG. 4—schematically shows the view of the tent with inflatable structure according to the technical solution with the hoses being the beams arranged in crossed configuration, dome tent;

FIG. 5—schematically shows detail of FIG. 4 of joining of the crossed hoses.

FIG. 6—embodiment of the hose end with the plug and air inlet/outlet element and fastening foot.

MODE(S) FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

FIG. 3 shows the embodiment of the tent with inflatable structure of the tunnel shape. In this embodiment, the tent comprises the outer cover 1 connected with the floor portion 2, having the design corresponding to tunnel shape of the tent. It is obvious that the floor portion 2 can be provided in one piece, floor sheet, as well as divided, e.g. to strips. The tent comprises separate inflatable beams arranged in a row. Inflatable beams are composed of standard fire hose or other industrial seamless hose 3 with outer textile braiding. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the hose 3 is closed by the plug 4 at each of its ends. Whereas, at least one of the plugs 4 comprises air inlet/outlet element 5. Such air inlet/outlet elements are commonly known and available, e.g. various manually or automatically closed air valves. In the embodiment of the tent with inflatable structure according to FIG. 3, the inflated hose 3 is leaning with both ends, i.e. the plugs 4 and possibly with the end portion of the hose 3 against the floor portion 2, the bottom, of the tent and the outer cover 1 adjacent to this floor portion 2. Limiting the mutual distance of the ends of the hose 3 by the dimension of the floor portion 2 being smaller than the length of the hose 3, the hose 3, when inflated, backs against the floor portion 2 and adjacent outer cover 1, and thus creates arched inflatable beam of the tent supporting the outer cover 1 of the tent. The outer cover 1 can additionally be attached to the hoses 3 by known means; however, even without the additional attachment the tent such erected is sufficiently stable and rigid. Inflating the hose 3 is carried out by means of inlet/outlet elements 5, which are, in this embodiment according to FIG. 2, positioned on the side of related plug 4. The hoses 3 included in the inflatable structure can also be interconnected through said inlet/outlet elements 5 to form one pneumatic assembly for easier inflating as well as deflating the supporting structure.

FIG. 4 shows the embodiment of the tent with inflatable structure, of dome shape, with crossed beams, hoses 3. In this embodiment, the tent comprises the outer cover 1 connected in one piece with the floor portion 2, having the design corresponding to dome shape of the tent. Similar to previous embodiment, the floor portion 2 can be provided in one piece, floor sheet, as well as divided, e.g. to strips. The beams of this tent are composed of the hoses 3, wherein one end of the hose closed by the plug 4 leans against the floor portion 2 and adjacent outer cover 1 and the other end of the hose 3 closed by the plug 4 is connected to the joining element 6. It is also possible to carry out the connection such that the plugs 4 and the joining element 6 are made integral. The joining element 6 can take on various forms and arrangements, which mainly depend on the number of the hoses 3 to be connected and the angle of crossing of the hoses 3. The most common shapes are e.g. “X” and “T”. Corresponding plugs analogously to the previous example comprise air inlet/outlet element 5.

The principle of creating of the arched beam is with inflating the hoses 3 analogous to the previous example.

It is of course possible to cross the hoses 3 also without employing the joining element 6. For example for the above mentioned particular embodiment of the dome shaped tent, the joining element 6 will not be used and the hoses 3 in such case passes one over the other without being divided.

In the above mentioned embodiments, resulting shape of the hoses 3 was achieved with backing them against the inside of the tent defined by the circumference of the outer cover 1 and floor portion 2. Such arrangement is the most convenient for achieving the object of this technical solution.

FIG. 6 shows the embodiment of the plug 4 of the hose 3 with the fastening element 7 designed for fixing it to the floor portion 2. In this embodiment of the technical solution that uses this type of the plug 4, it is necessary to provide anchoring elements 8 with desired spacing on the floor portion 2, into which the fastening element 7 of the plug 4 is inserted. Required tension of the hose 3 is then achieved with anchoring the plug 4 in the anchoring element 8 on the floor portion 2, and thus no direct force interaction with the floor portion 2 combined with the outer cover 1 applies. In this case the connection of the outer cover 1 with the floor portion 2 is not strictly necessary; however, this solution lacks all preferred advantages of the solution.

Connection itself of the plug 4 to the hose is possible by means of commonly known embodiments of connecting a plug to the end of a hose.

Above mentioned embodiments are introduced as illustrative examples only for explaining the principle of this technical solution. It is obvious that application of principles present in this technical solution provides for great number of shapes and combinations of tents with inflatable structure. It is obvious that such further embodiments of tents with inflatable structure according to this technical solution are then determined by the design and individual dimensions of the outer cover 1 and the floor portion 2, the length of the hoses 3 and ways of crossing and combinations of these hoses 3, while all the above falling within the scope of protection defined by the claims.

This technical solution considers air as inflating medium being the most affordable gaseous medium. However, it is clear that it is also possible to use other suitable inert gases, such as nitrogen or CO₂.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

Tent with inflatable structure according to the technical solution can be used wherever good storability and transportability, as well as speed of erecting an object with advantage of stability of the inflatable structure, in particular regarding of the changing ambient characteristics, especially temperature and pressure, is needed.

Claims

1. Tent with inflatable structure comprising an outer cover and a floor portion, the inflatable structure further comprising at least one beam made of standard fire hose or other industrial seamless hose having outer textile braiding, whereas wherein the hose is at each of its ends closed by a plug, of which at least one end comprises air inlet/outlet element, and at least one end of the hose is fixed to and/or leant against the outer cover of the tent and/or the floor portion of the tent.

2. Tent with inflatable structure according to claim 1, wherein the joining element is arranged between the hoses.