What is Protective Tube Padding for Indoor Playground

Created on Today

Due to the extremely high popularity of indoor playground as children playground equipment in modern cities, the safety of equipment should be the number one consideration in the composition of complicated play structures. Indoor playground is consisted of numerous component, and protective tube padding is a very important part that looks like an invisible soft armor to surround the rigid skeleton made of steel frame. It can offer necessary physical protection to children during the free play.

In this article, we will analyze indoor playground protective tube padding from definition, material, application and advantages, and safety standard perspectives.

1.Definition

Protective tube padding is also called safety tubing, impact absorbing tubes or steel pipe sleeves in the industry. It is a kind of soft tube product manufactured to cover the metal frame of indoor soft playground and other children's amusement facilities. The standard hollow cylinder designed for the indoor playground protective tube padding is defined as the structure with its physical specification strictly calculated to fit the target steel work. The core definition of its existence lies in the cushioning of physical impact to avoid the possible injury caused by the collision with hard steel support column or beam during the dynamic process of running, climbing and jumping. The indoor playground protective tube padding is usually designed as a standard hollow cylinder, and its inner diameter is generally from 5 cm to 5.5 cm according to the common steel pipe. Its outer diameter is 8 cm to 8.5 cm, and the wall thickness is 1.5 cm which is the key value to achieve the cushioning effect. The standard length of the product is generally 2.5 meters. The soft playground protective tube padding has excellent cuttability, and it can be cut into necessary length to cover the steel work of different length.

2. Material Analysis

The protection performance of indoor kid playground protective tube padding is determined by its material composition. The double layered composite structure of the product is the intentional designed functional structure, and the core and skin of the two layers have their own defined roles, and they play a role of united strength. The definition of indoor child playground protective tube padding cushioning function comes from the core, and the material used for the core is EPE (Expandable Polyethylene) foam. The inner of EPE material is composed of countless independent closed-cells, and the microscopic physical structure of the product can absorb and diffuse the impact energy, and the cells are compressed and rapidly rebound after receiving external force. The children indoor playground protective tube padding can play a role of cushioning due to the inherent light and resilient feature of EPE material, and it is easy to be installed on the equipment. The load applied on the equipment by it is relatively small, and it can repeatedly lean against and hit by children, and it maintains the structural stability and protective effect for a long time.

PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) layer coated on the outside of the EPE foam core acts as a hard skin, and its characteristics adapt well to the operating environment of an indoor playground.

Protective tube padding can offer certain physical protection to the relatively "soft" EPE inside. The high abrasion resistance of the skin is enough to resist the abrasion caused by the continuous friction of children's clothes and shoes. The smooth surface of the skin is not easily stained and can be wiped directly to disinfect, which greatly facilitates the daily cleaning and hygiene maintenance of the playground.

In addition, the excellent coloring property of the material allows for the "seven-color padding". The skin with bright colors not only acts as an external aesthetic layer but also an important means to create a thematic atmosphere to attract children's attention to play.

3. Applications and Advantages.

The primary and only application of protective tube padding is the passive safety protection. Through the effective absorption and dispersion of impact force, it can mitigate the impact force caused by accidental collision between children and the steel skeleton, reducing the occurrence of children being bumped and rubbed and more serious bruises and abrasions.

In addition to the primary application, the padding also has a more complicated role in the operation of the whole playground.

It is very important for beautification and functional division. The bright color and uniform installation of the tubes are important factors that contribute to the overall effect of the playground. Through the overall and systematic planning and division of colors for different areas, a lively and imaginative theme can be created.

In the complex play structure, different colors can also be used to delineate different functional areas, such as the area for climbing and sliding or the safe route, as an effective visual guide.

At the same time, the padding also has a certain maintenance effect for the equipment. It isolates the steel skeleton from the external environment physically. The bright and colorful skin layer effectively prevents metal from being corroded and rusted by humid air, children's sweat, and cleaning liquid that would cause equipment to be out of service at the micro level and extend the service life of the entire playground operation.

4. Safety Standards.

Indoor children playground padding must follow strict standards from multi-dimensional and link to ensure the safety of children from design, manufacturing to installation.

From the macro point of view, the product needs to follow higher level national safety standard for playground equipment, for example GB/T 34272-2017 “Safety Specification for Smallscale Amusement Facilities”, which clearly requires that the rigid components, protrusions and edges which children can reach should be covered with soft objects. This requirement extends to every material used in the padding, that is, both EPE and PVC need to follow mandatory national safety standard for children’s products and indoor materials, and they must be non-toxic, not irritate odor and do not contain forbidden amounts of heavy metals, phthalates and other harmful chemicals.

In the end, the consideration of safety is not only related to the material, but also embodied in the softness and other physical characteristics of the product as well as installation quality.

For the padding used in public places, the flame retardancy is an important indicator of safety. The requirement of combustion performance rating of the material used in the padding should also meet the relevant national fire code for indoor decoration.

In the installation process, the looseness and rotation should be avoided that the padding should be tightly installed on the steel tube and the cut edge should be smooth. The seam of different padding sections as well as the joint with platform and connector should be flush and tight. There should be no dangerous gaps left which could entangle the child’s finger or head or grab the clothes.

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