A Japanese company has developed a hose that changes colour according to the temperature of fluid inside it. The ink can be mixed to display any hue from white to black and can be made to change colour at any temperature in a range from –10°C to 60°C. The hoses make for easy monitoring of industrial processes and allow operators to prevent damage to a hose by running it outside its recommended temperature range. In addition, the color-change allows operators to avoid prolonged exposure of the hose to temperatures outside its recommended temperature range, preventing damage to the hose. For instance, a hose can be purple at temperatures up to 40°C and change to red above 60°C. The hose has a coil stiffener that uses a fiber containing a thermo sensitive material, jointly developed by Kuraray and The Pilot Ink Company.
The technology, developed by Japan’s Kuraray Plastics is compatible with a broad range of hose materials, including PVC, urethane and polypropylene. This colour-change hose would cost about 40 % more than standard hoses.