ANTI-ELECTRIC-SHOCK GARMENT

The present invention relates to an anti-electric-shock garment according to the preamble of claim 1.

Such a garment is known, for example, as a protective garment for technicians who carry out maintenance operations on uncovered high-voltage cables.

When the high-voltage cables are damaged, it is necessary to proceed to repair them in order to prevent them from breaking and causing considerable damage, both to the structures and in terms of a break in the supply of the service.

Obviously, the activity of the technicians is aimed at minimising the risks of discharge (or short circuit) between two different phases of the high voltage, which may reach potential differences on the order of 800 kV AC or 600 kV DC.

Clearly it is desirable to have garments capable of providing protection even if a short circuit is created in spite of the precautions taken.

A known solution is disclosed in DE 19743389; wherein a protective suit is described. The suit comprises individual layers disposed separately one from each other by including air gaps and formed by an intermediate layer, that is a conductive layer, which is disposed between two outside layers. The intermediate layer requiring at least one connection with the high voltage potential for potential equalization of the suit.

The garments known hitherto in the prior art are made of steel wire braided with cotton thread; however, they exhibit a number of disadvantages: their electrical resistance, measured between any two points, is relatively high; they must be 'activated' before each use by means of a strong electrical discharge in order to restore their original electrical conductivity; finally, because of its rigidity, the steel wire gives rise to rigid and uncomfortable garments that hamper the movements of the operators, with a consequent further decrease in the operative margins of safety.

A protective garment according to the preamble of claim 1 is known from US 3164840A.

For this reason, a European Standard, IEC 60895: 2002, was approved recently that defines some parameters that must be measured to characterise garments that are suitable for these purposes, among them:

• resistance to abrasion and to wear;
• flame-retardant properties;
• low electrical resistance;
• capacity to conduct capacitive currents;
• protection and shielding capacity;
• resistance to cleaning cycles;
• protection against sparks.

Besides these parameters, the Standard defines other parameters specific to garments that protect only some parts of the body: for gloves, boots, socks, and footwear the maximum resistance measure is defined; for garments that shield the head and the face, the efficiency of protection of the face is also defined.

The necessity for safety garments that are ever more effective and simple to use in this field is continually underlined by the too frequent accidents recorded almost daily all over the world.

The present invention is therefore aimed at satisfying specifically the needs of operators who carry out maintenance work on high-voltage electrical lines.

An other solution to a protective suit having a protective effect in particular against highfrequency electromagnetic fields, is disclosed in DE3300158. The effect is achieved by a multilayer laminate of planar structures made of a three-layers composite material. The composite material comprising a textile water-vapor permeable outer layer, an intermediate layer of a metallised textile sheet-like structure having good screen damping against highfrequency electromagnetic fields and an inner layer of water-vapour skin-compatible material.

Moreover, US 3,164,840 discloses a protective garment to be worn by a person working in a region immersed in, or irradiated by, an electromagnetic field of very high frequency, wherein the protective garment comprises a fabric having a layer or lamination of metal mesh that is disposed between two layers of cloth.

Also, DE 19500254 discloses an Electromagnetic Compatibility full-body protective clothing to protect the person wearing it against electromagnetic fields, in which the protective suit comprises a multiplayer laminate (L), with an intermediate metallized fabric layer (M), and a water and water vapour-permeable material outer layer, and an air gap that is arranged between the multiplayer laminate and the outer layer.

EP 0758479 discloses a protective clothing material for shielding people from high-frequency electromagnetic fields, wherein the fabric is formed by a polyamide yarn, which is coated by a silver layer, the silver layer being sealed by a polymer layer.

In view of the prior art described, the object of the present invention is to obtain a protective garment that allows technicians to work with greater safety during operations on uncovered high-voltage cables, with the efficiency of the garment being measured according to the parameters defined by the Standard indicated above.

According to the present invention, this object is achieved by means of a garment in accordance with claim 1.

The features and the advantages of the present invention will become evident from the following detailed description of a practical form of embodiment given as a non-limiting example with reference to the attached drawings in which:

• -- figure 1 shows a view of a preferred embodiment of a garment according to the present invention;
• -- figure 2 shows a schematic view of one of the components of the present invention.

According to the invention, the garment 1 comprises at least one first electrically conductive layer whose extent substantially coincides with the extent of the garment 1 itself. This first layer includes a conductive yarn 2; advantageously, it is composed exclusively of this conductive yarn 2.

This means that the garment 1 is composed of a substantially complete electrically conductive layer on which can be superimposed other different layers, even partial layers, however without there being substantial portions of the garment 1 where this first electrically conductive layer is absent.

The first layer is a textile product in which the spaces between two adjacent threads need not be considered as areas of substantial discontinuity for the purposes of the present invention.

The conductive yarn 2 visible in figure 2 contain silver; it has a core 3 covered by a layer 4 of silver, for example by means of spraying.

The core 3 is a polymer, for example composed of polyamide strands. In a preferred embodiment, about 80% of the mass of the yarn 2 is silver.

Using the silver as a conductor, advantageously a garment 1 is obtained that is also endowed with antibacterial and bacteriostatic properties.

The conductive yarn 2 can also be one of those described in the international patent application with the title 'CONDUCTIVE TEXTILE YARN', filed on 22 March 2007 in the name of the holder of the present application, for example produced by braiding a polyamide filament covered with silver with an aramide thread, or twisting together polyamide fibres covered with silver and aramide fibres.

Preferably the garment 1 is overalls 5 capable of covering the legs, the arms, and the torso of the operator. In a preferred embodiment, the garment 1 also comprises a hood 6 and/or a visor 7 and/or one or more loop fastenings 8, to cover also the nape of the neck and part of the face of the operator. Advantageously, all these elements are integrated together.

Furthermore, the garment 1 can cover also the feet and/or the hands, for example by means of boots 9 and/or gloves 10 integrated with the overalls 5 or that can be connected thereto.

In this way it is possible to obtain a continuous covering that produces an almost perfect Faraday cage, allowing the garment 1 to satisfy the requirements relating to electrical properties, established by the Standard cited above.

The conductive textile product is a knit, for example made with a loom 30 inches in diameter, of fineness 28, with 'interlock' weave, and with a weight of 200 g/sqm (± 5%) after removal from the machine.

Clearly, these values refer to the best embodiment, but suitable products can also be obtained with circular or straight knitting machines. Similarly, the diameter, the fineness, and the weight after removal from the machine can vary.

The garment 1 comprises, connected in a stable manner to the first layer, at least one second layer that provides the garment 1 with the properties of mechanical and/or chemical and/or flame resistance, as prescribed by the Standard cited initially. Preferably a single layer provides all these properties.

Both layers are produced in the form of a knit and are connected to one another in a stable manner.

The second layer is composed of a second textile product, that is obtained from a second yarn with anti-flame or flame-retardant properties, such as for example a fibre selected from the group comprising aramide fibres, meta-aramide fibres, treated natural fibres, flame-retardant fibres, flame-retardant viscose, flame-retardant cotton, Lenzing FR^®.

The two layers can be coupled together in a stable manner by means of quilting or, more advantageously, by means of coupling (chemical or mechanical) over the entire extent of their contact surfaces.

The coupling can be achieved both chemically, that is by placing a resin between the two yarns, for example a flameproof and preferably polyurethane resin, that acts as an adhesive without compromising the elastic properties of the knits, and mechanically, that is by weaving at least one conductive thread for the first layer and at least one thread for the second layer at the same time, but separated, on the same weaving machine.

In order to contribute to keeping the electrical resistance of the garment 1 low, at least some of the internal stitches between two fabric parts (for example undersleeve, oversleeve), advantageously all the stitches, are top stitches and double and/or overlocked.

The garment 1 can include, on the breast, a metal frame covered by a flap 11. The flap 11 can be closed on the breast of the garment 1 by means of a number of press studs 12, for example alternating with strips of Velcro 13, arranged on the free edge of the flap 11 itself.

Corresponding to the zones subjected to higher mechanical forces, the garment 1 comprises reinforcing padding, advantageously made of woven/nonwoven material. For example, such reinforcements are present in the vicinity of the closure studs 12 or in the vicinity of the Velcro 13.

The hood 6 of the garment 1 can include one or more loop fastenings 8 to protect the neck and the face respectively; to protect the eyes, it has proved to be sufficient to produce a substantially rigid visor 7, for example reinforced with woven/nonwoven material. To ensure a greater shielding of the eyes and the nose, the visor 7 is sewn to the hood 6 by means of a slanting stitch, preferably slanting in the upwards direction, in such a way that the visor 7 is slanted and pushed to rotate downwards.

In this manner the use of a shield for the eyes becomes superfluous. The garment 1 according to the present invention thus does not need to include a transparent shield to protect the eyes, which allows an even greater comfort in use.

As is evident, with the present invention an extremely conductive protective garment 1 has been produced, a garment that is greatly more elastic than the overalls currently available commercially, thus obtaining a garment 1 capable of increasing the safety of the operators both by means of the protection against the external agents properly speaking (electricity, aggressive chemical and/or mechanical agents, flames), and because it is much more comfortable than the garments known hitherto.

This garment 1 is the only one up to now capable of satisfying the Standard IEC 60895:2002.

In particular, the garment 1 according to the present invention, after being subjected to various tests laid down by this Standard, has shown the following results:

• -- a maximum resistance of less than 10 ohm, more precisely less than 3 ohm, even more precisely less than 1 ohm, for the electrical resistance test;
• -- a measured resistance of less than 5 ohm, more precisely less than 2 ohm, even more precisely less than 0.5 ohm, for the test of electrical resistance on samples of fabric;
• -- a shielding efficiency greater than 40 dB, more precisely greater than 60 dB, even more precisely greater than 70 dB, better if greater than 75 dB, for example greater than 79 dB on new samples and greater than 78.8 dB on washed samples.

Obviously one skilled in the art, for the purpose of satisfying contingent and specific needs, will be able to introduce numerous modifications and variants to the configurations described above, but all contained within the scope of protection of the invention as defined by the following claims.